What’s keeping you?

Fridays here at MNM will be Writing Fridays, for awhile. So for those who don't write, please bear with me.

Here are ten conquerors, deterrents, and defeaters of writing, and ten simple ways to defeat them.

1) New Toys: It looks like new ideas and projects. This conqueror has held me captive a few times, but no more! I have many ideas, but little time. I’ve made a “writing schedule”. On Monday I work on one project, Tuesday another, all through the week; working at least two hours on each project each week, until the projects are complete. Then I make another schedule and follow the process through.

2) No Deadline: “You have all the time in the world to write,” this defeater will say. If you have no deadline, make one. Make a goal and work to achieve it. You will feel so much better about yourself. Example: I know some writers who set daily word count goals. Write 500-1000 words a day. You’ll have your story complete in no time!

3) Inner Critic: He/she can be very harsh, or can be gentle and kind, depending on the day. Some days he/she can have some really good advice, but more of the time, just ignore what she/he says. We tend to be too hard on ourselves, when it comes to our writing.

4) Lack of confidence: This deterrent will whisper “Whatever made you think, you could write a book?” Honestly, who does this sound like? That voice is not coming from the One who called you and who had Paul write Philippians 4:13. This deterrent is evil, and will, if not locked away, destroy a writer.

5) What are the Odds: This looks similar to the last one, but a bit more localized. The odds are stacked against you, but a great book will sell. So who better to write that book, than you!

6) A Collapsing Story: It happens! Nothing is working right in the story! Just keep writing! Push through it! That’s why we have rewrites. One of the books I’m working on is on rewrite number three!

7) Finances: You may have to go get a “real job” to pay the bills. Don’t fret! If you seriously write one hour a day, one short hour, you will be writing more than one book a year.

8) Genre Pain: You are working on an “Amish” novel, but your friends start hacking on the “Amish” flood of books on the market. The type of writing (genre) doesn’t matter, the quality of the writing does! Don’t second guess yourself! There may be a lot of those types of books out there, but none will be like yours. Which leads us to:

9) Competition: You are still working on that “Plain folk” novel. There are lots of these types of novels out there, but like I said before, no one will be telling your story.

10) On the flip side of this is Market Chasing: If you are writing the “Amish” novel, just because that’s what’s popular, your heart won’t be in it. Or if you are writing “Chick Lit.” and someone says “Chick Lit” is dead. Don’t buy into that! If your story is stellar you will get published. So write from the heart, not what is popular, just for the sake of popularity.

I borrowed this idea from another blog, but made it my own.