Achieving goals in any field takes more than just desire, but if you possess even a small amount of the following three qualities, it will increase your chances of success.
Determination
Yesterday I took a day off, because I needed some social life to balance my writing life, although if your life is like mine (and most people I know), getting that work/leisure balance right is a juggling act, that despite endless practice, is rarely easy. My experience is that determination varies, like waves hitting the shoreline. Sometimes huge crunchers thunder onto the beach, and on other days, tiny wavelets lap gently at the shore. Yet as long as the wind pushes over the surface of the sea, those waves will keep coming. So consider determination in the same way: as long as you keep trying, you'll get closer to realizing your dreams.
Discipline
Developing the habit of writing regularly takes discipline.
'Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes,
a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers,
like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.' – Jane Yolen.
Each writer has their own rhythm, their own way of tapping into their creative process. I’m still learning what works for me and change my schedule from time to time. Sometimes I write as soon as I get up, stick at it for as long as I can, then leave my imaginary world and return to this one. I’ve also had periods of working later in the day when I've given myself a word quota and not stopped till I’ve reached my goal. Sometimes words flow, at other times I have to encourage my hesitant, reluctant sentences onto the page. Sometimes when they do come, they’re not what I want, but at least if there are words on the page, I've got something to work with.
Drive
I found the following explanations of the word 'drive' in my dictionary:by compulsion, force along, impel, urge, compel, energy, initiative, go along before an impelling force.
You get the drift.
When you write, determination and discipline combine to keep you going, but it is the act of writing itself, the act of creating something, that is so satisfying, and which generates the momentum that keeps you moving forward.
Writing Update
I'm forty three thousand words into the first draft of the final book in my urban fantasy trilogy, Samsara. Mapping out the scenes in more detail is helping, but I still find, especially when I've written something like, 'hand to hand fighting', I have to go back to square one and figure out the choreography of the action. On the whole, though, the more detailed the scene, the easier the words flow.
Even though I've some way to go, I'm already feeling sad that this is the last in the series, and I'll be saying goodbye to these characters before the end of the year. Still, on the upside, I'll have room for some new ones to occupy.
Links:
If you're a Wattpad member, I have several short stories posted on the site: https://www.wattpad.com/teagankearney
https://twitter.com/@teagankearney
https://uk.pinterest.com/teagankearney
I've also (finally) made it onto face book, though I'm still not sure what I'm doing there: https://www.facebook.com/teagankearney
Thanks for visiting my blog, and please do leave a comment.
To all story lovers out there, good reading, and to those of you who write, good writing.
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