The Writer Behind the Words by Dara Girard Page A

time.
     
     
    Sometimes there is no reasonable explanation. Not everything that happens will have anything to do with whether you are a kind and generous person. A jerk will get a great book contract, a badly written book will become a bestseller and you won’t understand why. It’s not your job to make sense of it, just keep doing what you do.

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Know Your Limitations
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What one has to do usually can be done.
    ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
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    F ind out your limitations. This is not a reason to pull out your old list of excuses, but rather a way to face your present situation. Be realistic about the feasibility of your dreams. If you’re the main breadwinner with three children under the age of five, it may not be feasible for you to quit your job and write full-time. Your limitations are different from those of a single person with a healthy savings account who can manage to take such a risk. There will be plenty of unknowns out there, try to anticipate the ones that you can readily overcome and acknowledge them early on.
     
What kind of writer are you? Do you want to entertain or inform or both? Consider fiction or non-fiction or a mixture.
     
Do you like to research? If not, hire a research assistant.
     
Do you edit well? If not, hire an editor.
     
Do you know how to structure a book? If not, hire a writing coach.
     
Do you like to work alone? If not, work with a collaborator.
     
Do you type well? If not, hire a typist or dictate.
     
Are you patient? If not, try writing short stories, articles and poems instead of a novel.
     
Do you want to make money? If not, write for selfactualization not the market. If you do, identify markets that
pay
(you would be amazed by how many writers, write for nothing except to see their name in print, and then complain about not making money. If you can get a hundred dollars or more for your work, go for it).
     
Not prolific? Get paid more for each project or find other ways to earn income.
     
Not organized? Write by instinct instead of according to a strict schedule.
     
Do you enjoy the physical act of writing? If not, consider an alternative.
     
Do you have ideas or stories that may shock or embarrass you or others? Use a pen name.
     
What are your time constraints?
     
Do you like to promote or do you prefer privacy?
     
Can you work on many different projects or can you only focus on one at a time? Uncover your limitations so they won’t become stumbling blocks in the future.
     
     

Extra
    New Directions
    Changing your mind isn’t failure. Failure is stopping in the middle of the race, staring longingly at the finish line but making no move towards it. Changing your mind is stopping in the middle of the race, staring at the finish line, deciding that it’s not where you want to go, and switching your direction.
    If you decide that writing is not for you and you want to do something else, that is perfectly healthy. My mother started off as a medical illustrator, then realized she wasn’t a desk artist and chose a different field. Initially I studied to be a speech pathologist, then realized I didn’t have the temperament. One writer started out writing cozy mysteries, then realized she preferred fantasy. Honor your spiritual needs. Perhaps your desire to write is really a desire to communicate. You could consider becoming a public speaker, an oral storyteller, an actor, painter, teacher or counselor.
    A writer is someone who
must
write. Writing nourishes them and fills them with ecstasy, not with hours of agony and despair. It’s okay to be terrified at times and jubilant at others. Writing doesn’t always have to be fun, but if you couldn’t imagine doing anything else then you’re following your bliss.
    As life moves on, your desires may shift and change. Don’t lock yourself into a dream just because you had it. Make your dreams suit you, not the other way around.

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Get a Strategy
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    M any writers expect their careers to just happen. They have no plan