One Word

Week of January 1, 2013—A Brand New Beginning

Thursday, January 3—One Word

I don’t like saying you have to, or you must, or you ought to. But today I’m going

to. The most important word I can share with you this year is . . .

WRITE!

You have to write. You must write. You ought to write.

The number one thing I see that threatens the writing success of many of my

friends is their failure to write. They do a snippet here, a snippet there. Part of one

story, then part of another. Some keep revising the same piece over and over and

over—for months, or even years.

I heard Linda Sue Park speak at a Highlights Foundation conference in 2012 and

she said that her goal is to write two hours a day. She said some days, if things are

going well, she might write longer, but she is committed to those two hours a day.

There’s nothing magical about two hours. Maybe you can only spare an hour a

day. Maybe it’s forty-five minutes. Maybe it’s four hours. Having a plan for the

time you will write (and sticking to it) is the key.

I write every day. I jot down ideas wherever I am. Then I make a point of sitting

down and writing every day after work. I devote larger chunks of time to write on

weekends. But I think I’m going to create an actual time goal for 2013. If two

hours is good enough for Linda Sue Park, it’s good enough for me. So that’s my

goal this year. Two hours of writing a day (and if things are going well, I’ll keep

writing, if not, at least I’ll have my two hours in).

How about you? How much time can you carve out for your writing each day? Post

a response to make your time plan more of a time commitment. Remember the

most important thing you must do to become a successful author is to WRITE!