It's Holiday Season. So Dump The Excuses

We saw it coming back in March when those big box stores started putting up Christmas decorations. Holiday season is just around the corner and that means family, baking, shopping, trips, decorating and most likely, a lot of stress and turmoil around the house. But, along with all of this chaos comes a time when a sorting occurs. This is the time when the true authors emerge and those that are never going to make it are weeded out. In many ways, this is the time of Social Darwinism in writing and publishing. This is truly the survival of the fittest.

What am I talking about here? I can sum it up in one simple word - "EXCUSES." I know, I know! During this time of year we are often using the phrase, "The Reason For The Season," but, for far too many authors this is "The Season for Excuses." And, it is this constant use of excuses, although many of these people call them reasons, why so many people who call themselves writers will disappear from the publishing scene. It is also this time that those who will succeed emerge to be victorious. For this latter group of writers, they simply do not make excuses.

If you are a writer who wants to be successful in this business, you simply cannot make excuses for not writing and working on your craft. You will not simply carve a niche out of your busy schedule for your writing, you will shape that hectic schedule AROUND your writing. It is a matter of priorities. You told everyone when you first started this silly thing called writing that you were really "going to go for it." You would "do what it takes" to finish that book, become the professional writer and so forth. You made a promise - now keep it!

Look, I so get a busy schedule. With three kids all doing different things, believe me, I know hectic. But I still get those projects read, the laundry done and yes, even get this blog out to you weekly (with the exception of those rare occasions).

So, before you start filling up your schedule with all of those holiday plans, decide if you are going to be that writer you promised to yourself a while ago. If you did make that promise, decide today if you are going to honor that promise, or toss it out with all of that wrapping paper at the end of the season. I will promise you that trying to start back up after taking a break is going to be a lot harder than developing that schedule today!