Self-Publishing: Get Up and Get Started, Already!

It’s hard to get up and head into the office every day when you’d really rather write.  But, imagine my shock and disgust when I first realized that I’d get home from said office too tired to even write in the evening!  The first time this happened to me, I was sad, I was afraid and I was angry. 

“How will I ever be able to finish this book?!”  I ranted and I screeched and I bitched and I moaned.  It all seemed so unfair.  Here I was, finally, giving writing a serious attempt, but my 9 to 5 was getting in the way.  I felt hopeless until I put on my big girl panties, took a deep breath and gave the situation some deep thought.  I could either suck it up and make time to write each day or I’d never finish.  That was, in fact, the reality.  It was something I wasn't willing to live with.

I’ve spent more hours than I could ever count helping build effective communications and marketing systems at numerous organizations.  Hours that I worked willingly because I believed wholeheartedly in those missions.  I knew, my own mission deserved just as much energy and effort and I was the only one who could make it happen. 

So, I pulled it together and I forced myself to spend time writing every day, even if only three paragraphs.  In the beginning, it was tough. I wouldn’t even consider misleading you with claims of unbelievable stamina and endurance, capable of writing an entire novel in a week…but, after a few weeks, I found myself looking forward to my evening writing sessions.  I knew I was doing something, for the first time in my life, that I really felt at home in. 

The words that flowed from my fingertips each evening amazed me.  I enjoyed the process so much and before I knew it, I had a completed manuscript!  The evening that I finished, I got up and did a little jig I was so proud of myself.  The feeling of triumph was better than I could have ever imagined and I knew, I had to feel it again.  Finish another novel and another and another. 

So, if you’re preparing to start a project, in the middle of a project or nearing the end of a project, keep pushing!  Make time to write each day.  I know the kids need to be bathed and fed.  I know the clothes need to be washed and the legal brief needs to be reviewed. But, dear fellow writer, if you don’t make time to do it today, then when? 

Fight to claim your writing time, even if for a few minutes each day.  A few sentences a day are better than a million regrets, years from now, about having not written a single word.  --Shana James