There are similarities between getting published and winning the Super Bowl.  Bear with me.  Let me explain what they have in common.

• Talent.  Whether you’re an experienced quarterback like Ben Roethlisberger or a relative newcomer like Aaron Rodgers, you aren’t going to make it to the Super Bowl without natural talent.  The same can be said about writing.  You may have a passion for writing, but without talent, without knowing how to structure a sentence, increase tension and keep the reader interested, your manuscript is never going to get out of the slush pile.
• Persistence.  Most NFL players don’t start there.  There’s high school and college play before selection to the draft.  If they can’t perform, they’re traded or sent to minor league teams or let go.  All of that can be discouraging.  Persistence goes hand-in-hand with talent in opening doors.  The same can be said for writers and publication.  I’ve known writers who’ve written for years before publication and others who’ve gone for over a decade between published novels, but they keep on submitting to agents and editors.  With persistence, they’ve been published and continue to be.
• Competition.  Each year, over 175,000 books are published.  That’s 479 a day or 19 an hour.  The advancement of the digital world, epublishing and self-publishing will push those numbers higher.  Everyone thinks they have a book inside them, and if they finish a manuscript, they’ll be competing with your story.
• Coaching.  In football, the decisions of the various coaches contribute to the success of the team.  In writing, the input of critique partners, contest judges and agents contribute to the improvement of your manuscript.  Listen to the advice of the more experienced.
• Luck.  Yes, it does play a part.  A missed catch, the wrong call, the time left on the clock can influence the final outcome of the game.  In writing, in might be submitting the right concept at the right time.  It might be a chance meeting at a writing conference that leads to a request.  Cosmic forces shouldn’t be overlooked.

Whatever the outcome of Super Bowl XLV, remember the lessons learned on the football field and apply them to your road to publication.

Cheryl

For the love of ones you have lost through heart disease, please wear red tomorrow, Friday, February 4th.

Courtesy of cartoonstock.com

Remember all the times you wished for a day off, when you had a block of time to write?  Today is the day!  If, like me, you’re snowed in by the Blizzard of 2011, there is no excuse to not write.  You can’t run to the store/post office/library/school.  Housework can wait.  Turn off the updates of the Egypt situation.  Turn off (or ignore) the internet and get your butt in a chair and type/write on your current story.

Write for twenty minutes.  That’s all I ask.  Set a timer and put your head down and write.  Don’t reread the last thing you wrote.  Don’t worry if it’s not perfect grammatically.  Just write.  I can guarantee that at the end of twenty minutes, you’ll want to continue.

Yesterday, on my daily walk around my workplace (15 minutes, 1700 steps) I saw a sign that said “I’m in the groove, please approach me via my window.”  Get in your groove.  Push through that plot point that’s been worrying you.  Believe me, your subconscious knows the answer.  After all, it created it in the first place.

“What about the kids?” you ask.  Are you telling me you can’t find something for them to do for a half hour or so?  You’re a writer.  Use your creativity.  Let them write their own story.  Put in a movie.  Or make a batch of homemade play dough and let their creativity go to town.  Here’s the recipe my mom used to make for us:

Salt Playdough

Materials:

• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup flour plus additional flour
• Saucepan

Directions

1. Mix salt, water, and flour in saucepan and cook over medium heat.
2. Remove from heat when mixture is thick and rubbery.
3. As the mixture cools, knead in enough flour to make the dough workable.