WRITING AND LOSING WEIGHT: THE SAME THING?

 

Sharon Dunn writes both humorous mysteries and romantic suspense. Her book Night Prey (Love Inspired Suspense) won a Carol award for 2011. Her first book Romance Rustlers and Thunderbird Thieves was a Romantic Times top pick and finalist in the inspirational Novel of the Year. Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante, the second book in that same series (The Ruby Taylor mysteries) was voted book of the year by ACFW. Zero Visibility is her fifth Love Inspired Suspense with another one scheduled for release in March 2013 titled Guard Duty. When she is not writing, Sharon spends time with her husband, three children, two cats and a nervous little border collie named Bart. You can read more about Sharon and her books by visiting her website.

 

Writing and Losing Weight: The Same Thing?

 

I need to lose fifty pounds.  So what does that have to do with writing?  Both writing and weight loss are centered on a BIG GOAL, that bestseller that lands a million-dollar contract and the slim figure of youth, respectively.  I’ve read enough articles on weight loss to know that if I just focus the BIG GOAL, I will become discouraged every time I step on the scale.  I need to take my eyes off that twenty-pound loss and start celebrating smaller achievements like number of times per week I’ve exercised or that my jeans are looser than they used to be. Likewise, waiting around for that million-dollar contract will just leave you crying on your keyboard.  There must be some other way to measure success in writing…

Amount of time spent writing each week.  Think back to the time you first decided to become serious about writing.  For me, it was when I bought my first Writer’s Market.  If the number of hours a week you are putting into your writing has increased from that starting point date, it is cause for a congratulatory slap on the back.  If it seems like who’ve been trying to be a writer since you were in diapers, make today your starting point and set goals to increase the hours you put in at that keyboard.

Pieces out on the market.  Keep track of when and where you send your writing out and when it comes back. As soon as something bounces back from an editor, find another market for it and send it out.  Regardless of whether the pieces are rejected or accepted, the increasing number of manuscripts you have out on the market is an indication that you are moving in the right direction toward your goal.

Manuscripts completed.  When I first started writing, I had tons of first pages or first paragraph of stories, but very few that were completed. The inability to finish projects is a characteristic of a beginning writer.  The more stories you have been able to write “the end” on, even if they are not suitable for submitting to magazines, is another way to measure success in writing.  Also, look at the length of manuscripts you are writing.  When I started writing, I never thought I had the discipline to write a book.  Now I have completed three books, and two of them are ready to market. The book that will probably never be marketed because it’s so bad was a good warm up for the other two books.

Rejections accumulated. Rejection is good in this business.   That pile of rejections is an indication that you are that much closer to success. Think of it this way: the possibility of being rejected is also the possibility for acceptance. An editor will never knock on your door and say, “I used my psychic powers to ascertain that you have a story hidden in your drawer that we would like to publish.”  The more you send out, the more likely you are to become published.  Save all your rejections; they are evidence of your hard work. Set goals for the number of rejections you want to receive each year.  And when you reach that goal, celebrate. 

Save the personalized rejections (the ones where an editor put handwritten or personal comments about your piece in the rejection letter) in a special pile. They are cause for extra celebration. If you set goals for the number of rejections you want to get, eventually you will receive more personalized rejections than form letters and ultimately, your number of acceptances will increase.      

Success in writing can be measured in many different ways.  Maybe that big contract will never happen, but somewhere along the way a magical thing transpires: you will stop focusing on money and publication and learn to love the process of sitting in front of a blank screen creating new worlds and ideas…that’s the real success.  Now, about those fifty pounds.  They still sit serenely around my hips and stomach—but I did go for a thirty-minute walk today.