Slow and Steady to Succeed in Publishing

Writers seem to have a litany of excuses why they can't get their writing done:

*They work full time.

*They have __ kids and a wife at home.

*They are tired in the evenings when they come home.

*They are active in their church.

*They have been sick or their child has been sick.

*They _____ (you fill it in).

From my experience their excuses will become a self-fulfilling prophecy and yes it will simply not happen. Because their writing isn't high enough on their daily priority list. You don't have to be writing every day but you do have to be writing on a regular basis to accomplish the writing and get it into the market. Even after you produce the writing, it doesn't get published unless you are regularly sending it to editors and agents.

People are always amazed at my writing resume or my amount of twitter followers or any number of other things. Here's the truth: it did not happen in a single day or a single month. The route to success in publishing is from slow and steady production. The route to more followers on twitter is working at it every day-slow and steady rules the day.

If you aren't getting published or aren't getting your work into print, then pull back and take a look at how you are using your time. Can you make some small change that will bring greater focus and commitment to your writing and work in the marketplace? 

Maybe you get up an hour earlier or stay up an hour later or take your lunch time and work on your writing (or your coffee break at work). There are a million different possibilities and you need to get in touch with the micro decisions you are making each part of the day.

My encouragement to you is that you can do it. You can get published in magazines or books or whatever your goal. Yet to achieve it you have to work at it slow and steady with persistence and consistency. You may wonder how I have written for over 50 print magazines. It is slow and steady work. Or you may wonder how I've written many different types of books and over 60 books with traditional publishing houses (not self-published). Again it is slow and steady writing and working at it.

I've never pretended to be the best writer in the room or the best storyteller. I'm still working hard at learning my craft and attempting to get better every single day. Yet I am one of the most consistent. Just like when the tortoise raced the hare. The tortoise won because he was slow and steady. It will be your route to success in the publishing world as well.

As an action item, if you haven't read my Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams, then I recommend you get a copy and work your way through each chapter and apply the material to your writing life. You can get the book through your local bookstore or my site or any number of other places.

Let me know how your writing is going and reach out to me if I can help you. I'm eager to see you succeed.