Anyone who has ever tried to lose a little weight can tell you that change is not an easy thing.  Successful weight-loss usually means a change in eating habits, an increase in activity and a lot of motivational help from others.  In other words, a change in lifestyle.

Writing isn’t a whole lot different.  Instead of changing your eating habits, you are changing other habits to make time for putting pen to paper.  The increase in activity is analogous to sitting down and actually creating the stories.  Motivational help… well that is definitely a key requirement too and part of the reason StartingWriteNow exists.

Just like the calorie-filled goodies that seem to be all around us, there are ample distractions to keep us from writing.  It could be a favorite television programme, family activities, date nights or whatever.  At the end of the day, it becomes too easy to curse yourself for being weak because you didn’t achieve your goals.

But what exactly are your goals?  Do you have them written down?  Have you set yourself a clear path to follow?  Every self-help guru I’ve ever heard who talks about improvements of any kind extolls the virtue of writing down your goals.  I know for myself, any time I’ve written down a goal it has been much easier to achieve.

Going one step further and publicizing the goal(s) adds additional incentive to succeed (who wants to be ridiculed by one’s friends and enemies for failure?).

Once you’ve written down your goals (make them time-specific) you need to post them where you will see them.  Maybe you set a calendar appointment in your Outlook calendar (iCalendar/whatever) that tells you to start writing everyday.

One mistake I’ve made and I know others have too is to set a finite time-limit.  For example, I did my 30-in-30 self-challenge for short-stories.  I was able to achieve 29 short stories in 30-days which isn’t bad.  The bad thing is I haven’t kept writing every single day since.

Still, all is not lost.  I have been averaging either writing or editing 4-days out of every 7.  I have let myself (yes, let myself) slide in the past few days because I’ve been trying to migrate all of my work and applications over to my new Macbook.  I need to quit using the migration as an excuse and keep writing.  I still have paper and pencil if necessary (and three other computers in the house) so the migration shouldn’t be any reason to stop.

The good news is that writing is finally becoming an ingrained habit; there has been a nagging… something… on the days when I’ve gone to bed without writing or editing.  I’ve also got these really awesome ideas for my first book.  Ideas that I know will make it much better and I can’t wait to get them down on paper.

Should you beat yourself up if you don’t get into the habit right away?  Heck no!  Have you ever heard the theory that if you do something for 21-days straight it becomes a habit?  I don’t know who originated the theory but I have seen myself and many other prove that it is a load of hogswash.  The only way something will become a habit is if you want it to be whether you do it 21-days straight or 210-days straight.  Diligence is important but desire is the key.

So my advice to myself (and to anyone else who wants it) is to keep my focus on what I want to do which is write stories.  If I miss the mark once in a while, ignore what I haven’t done and move on to what I want to do.

Personal Update

Back in January I sent out 9 query letters for one of my books.  I got an email from a publisher almost immediately asking to see 3 chapters and the synopsis which I sent.  The publisher came back about 10-days later asking for the manuscript.

Nothing back yet, but the publisher has confirmed that she has the manuscript and will be looking at it.  She just hasn’t had the chance to read it yet.

This week I got a response from another publisher (based on the query letter) asking to see 3 – 4 chapters.  I’ll save you the trouble of counting; that’s 3-months between query letter and request.  Still, that’s two publishers that have expressed some interest in the book.  If the first publisher passes on the book, I’ll send the 3 – 4 chapters to the second one and we’ll see.

I’m trying to learn patience, I really am.

See you next week.

I’m at a bit of a cross-roads and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it.  You see, I’m looking very seriously at getting a Mac.  Nothing wrong with that, right?

There’s only one problem.  I’ve been using Microsoft products almost since the beginning of personal computers (just ask Sean, I really am that old).  Not only have I been using them but I’ve also been actively supporting them both personally and career-wise.  And until recently, I could honestly look you in the eye and say I had never strayed or been unfaithful to Microsoft… well except for that one time in Vegas when I was drunk, but what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

I use Microsoft Word for Windows every day.  I already know all the formatting shortcut key combinations and I’ve written three books using it, so why switch?

A few things have changed that make it a more desirable platform for me now.  My Mom now has a Mac for which I am the de facto support person.  Also, we, the SWN guys are about to embark on an adventure in podcasting and our software of choice is Mac-based… and darn it, isn’t the Mac supposed to be for those artistic, creative types?  You know, the type I’m trying to be?

But am I ready?

It’s gotten me thinking about when I first started writing.  I picked up every writing reference I could find so I could “learn how to do it properly”.  Surely I couldn’t write anything worthwhile without them.  I know it’s a feeling many writers share with me.  I’ve heard the same thing expressed in questions like:  “What writing software do you use?” and “is there anything that helps you to outline your story?”.  Same self-doubt expressed in a slightly but similar way.  We try to compensate for lack of experience with quick fixes.  Crutches if you will.

The truth of the matter is no tool is going to make you a successful writer.  The only things that will do that for you (and me) is perseverence, practice and patience (cool, 3-P’s of writing  ).  The various tools only determine how you execute them.  Take Sean, for example.  He uses an Asus EEE PC (and a Mac, of course).  It’s tiny, light and infinitely portable.  Does it make Sean a better writer?  He’d probably say “No”.  What it does do is gives him the means to type/write wherever he happens to be.

I guess that’s what I need to keep in mind too.  The Macbook I’m looking at is smaller and lighter than what I use now.  It’s more powerful and has much better battery life.  At the end of the day, it will mean that, regardless of software, I can write longer and more often.  Perhaps it is time to get over my technology prejudices and worry about getting the job done.