DO YOU REALLY WANT TO WRITE? BY RITA KARNOPP

So you’ve received a rejection letter – and you’re in the middle of writing yet another book.  Suddenly you’re in the slumps and wonder if all this work and upset is worth it.  You stop writing – and now you just don’t feel like going back to your office and continue with your work in progress.

Hmmm . . . sound familiar?  It’s not an easy profession, is it?  We have our highs – and oh so many lows.  It’s not easy to receive a rejection letter on one of our books.  It’s deflating.  It’s frustrating.  It’s depressing.  Yet, after you cry, throw a tantrum, crumple the rejection letter and toss it in the trash – you take a deep breath – and ask yourself – “Should I keep writing – or quite?”

I’ll bet everyone who has written a book, whether published or not, has asked themselves that very question.  It’s hard work to be a writer.  Life has a way of pulling at us – whether fun or work – and it take determination, fortitude, self-discipline, and most of all passion to be a writer.

So back to the ultimate question; do you really want to write?  It’s not all that easy to answer when you’re starting at a rejection letter.  Are you willing to give up the movies, TV shows, shopping sprees (great way to save money), and other activities that take up your time.

Having said that, I don’t think you have to give up anything – time management is the key.  But we still haven’t answered the question; do you really want to write? 

You heard me say it before, and I’m going to say it again.  I write for me, no one else.  I’d dream of seeing my name on the cover of my book for years – and it seemed like nothing more than a dream.  When I was brave enough to share that dream with others (besides my husband – who believes I can do anything I set my mind to), most people reacted as though I’d lost my sense of reasoning.  A mother of two, holding down a full-time job and sometimes another part-time job just to make ends meet – had no right to consider the possibility of becoming a published author.

Why?  I really don’t know– but – I would venture to guess many of you don’t find that strange at all, because you can relate – that attitude is familiar to you.

The best advice I can give is, if you really want to see your name on the cover of your book – never give up that dream.  Only you can make it happen.  Take the encouraging, supportive, and positive comments – and ignore the rest.

If you can’t stop the stories from forming in your mind, the plots just keep coming, as do terrific book titles – jot it all down in notebooks and keep the dream alive. 

Whether you get one sentence, one page, or one chapter done in a week or even month – you’re that much closer to ‘the end.’  If you really know this is your destiny- make it happen.