Do You Believe You Are An Author?

Contest entry fee to be drawn tonight. Read on for details.

Morning Seekerville,

Sandra here with goodies of course. Her favorite--chocolate velvet coffee steaming hot, Earl Grey for the tea drinkers and a platter of scones--blueberry, cranberry, orange, apple cinnamon, and plain. Yummy creamy butter and wildflower honey to dribble off the scone and onto your fingers.

That's the way to start any job. Right?

So do you consider your writing a job? Do you treat your writing time like you would treat the time working any other job? Do you expect others to consider your writing as a "real job"?

Published authors and full time writers battle with this question, especially with family and friends.

Authors who aren't published yet battle with this question, especially with family and friends.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Mark 11:23-24. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, "Go throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

What is it you say to others?

I need to finish this proposal, novel, chapter, but.....

I want to be a writer, but....

I want to be published, but....

Or are you saying:

I will finish this proposal, novel, chapter, because

I will be a writer because....

I will be published because.......

What you say and what you believe will happen.

Maybe not when you think, but words are powerful.

Belief is powerful.

Trust and faith are powerful.

The Seekers with the help of Tina and Margie Lawson based their Plan B on this premise.

1. Set a goal. Perceive what it is you want to accomplish as an author.

2. Write it, speak it, sing it. Be specific. I will be on the best seller list. I will be published. etc.

3. Believe it. Do not make excuses. Do not doubt. But believe with all your heart.

I have a friend who set her goals. Before she was published, she took books by her favorite best seller authors and wrapped them in new covers with the titles of her wip's. She put them on her "best seller shelf", then pictured and believed they were best sellers too. Not only is this friend now published but she has been on the best seller list for several years now.

1. She set her goal.

2. She spoke it. (Her books on the best seller shelf were a visual testimony)

3. She believed it with all her heart.

How do you act as a writer on the job?

Do you guard your writing time and consider it sacred?

Because authors determine their own hours and work at home, it is easy to think "I can go to the mall with my friends and write later." Or I can make a dentist appointment at 10:00 am and write later. But can you do this with other jobs?

I was a teacher. I couldn't make an appointment at 10:00 am because I had students. I couldn't go to the mall because I had a job.

Do you think of your writing in this way? Do you have a set time to write and keep that time sacred? Do you say I can't go to the mall because I'm working? Do you say I need to make my appointment in the afternoon because I work in the morning?

This can be tricky because there are many aspects of writing. Writing includes research, interviews, publicity, travel and pondering (as Ruthy puts it). These activities may not appear to others as work. You must be diligent in making friends and family believe along with you that you are indeed working.

One day I insisted I had to finish a project because of a deadline and my husband agreed to leave me alone and not interrupt my "work time". Well I had written myself into a corner and needed to figure out how to fix it. I needed to "ponder" (I love that P word Ruthy) So I went in my bedroom and stretched out on the bed. You can imagine what my hubby said when he found me. "I thought you had to work. Here I am tiptoeing around the house and you're napping." I wasn't napping, but you get my point.

We need to educate our family and friends that we are indeed working. We need to believe it. We need them to believe it. And because we are working, we have goals, we have deadlines and we have an end product.

So Seekers--whether you are published or not yet published, say it and believe it. Act as if it is so and it will be.

Let us know some of the ways you convince yourself, your family and your friends that you are a serious and successful writer at work and on the job.

Now for the prize I promised. Seekers love contests. I belong to a chapter of ACFW that is sponsoring a contest. There are only four days left to enter.

THE PHOENIX RATTLER -DOES YOUR STORY HAVE BITE.

Click on the link for details.

Specify in your post if you would like to enter the drawing and at 8:00 pm PDT I will draw a name and pay for the entry fee for that contestant. Be sure and include your email address.

Happy writing.