How I Write

By Rebecca Connolly

One question that I get more often than any other question from new writers or people who want to be writers or passionate readers who care about writers is “How do you do it?”

How do you get published? I don’t know, because what works for one author may not work for another, and there are so many different avenues and opportunities these days that there is no surefire way to get published.

How do you write a book? You just do it… I don’t know any other way to say it, unfortunately, because AGAIN there are so many ways you could do this and so many different schools of thought.

How do you write while working full-time/raising a family/(insert obstacle of choice)? Now this one I know.

I am not a full-time writer. I work a very full-time career in a completely unrelated field and have two degrees in that area, so I have never been a writer and nothing else. How do I write with all of that? I make time for it. I have established one very important principle in my life with regards to writing and everything else: You make time for what is important to you. You make it a priority, and you make time for it.

If you want to be a writer, write. It doesn’t matter what else you have going on in your life, and it doesn’t matter how much you write when you do. But write something every day, or every other day, if that’s better for you. Write one sentence, write three hundred words, write ten pages; it doesn’t matter except that you write. There will never be a perfect moment or perfect time to write, not when we lead such busy lives. So MAKE time for it! Evenings, lunch hours, early morning, of fifteen minutes in the afternoon. Doesn’t matter. Just do it!

 In the one (yes, only one) creative writing course I took in college, our professor said this: “Over the course of this class, I will do everything I can to convince you not to be a writer. If I succeed, shame on you.”

I didn’t know then how true his statement was, but I certainly do now. In the world and market of literature that we have chosen to inhabit, so many things work against us. So we, as writers, have to be dedicated to our craft. If we aren’t actively working towards our dreams, if they aren’t a priority to us, why should anyone else believe in them?

Emergencies happen, of course, and life gets in the way. But write what you can when you can, even then.

Write for whatever motivates you to do so.

Write because you have a story to tell.

Write because you can’t help yourself.

But write.

And that’s how you do it.

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Rebecca Connolly writes romances, both period and contemporary, because she absolutely loves a good love story. She has been creating stories since childhood, and there are home videos to prove it! She started writing them down in elementary school and has never looked back. She currently lives in Minnesota, spends every spare moment away from her day job absorbed in her writing, and is a hot cocoa addict. Social Media: Website:www.rebeccaconnolly.com  

Blog:http://rebeccaconnolly.com/category/blog/ Facebook page: @rebecca.connolly.books Facebook profile: @writer.becks Twitter: @rconnwriter Instagram: @writer.becks