What Writers Do... and Don't Do

By Seekerville Blogger Ruth Logan Herne 

 Last week I asked some very successful authors what they do... and what they don't do. How do they balance their careers and their lives, their families, their homes, their commitments? How often do we hear aspiring authors or newly published authors fret/worry over having so much to do? Fairly regularly, and these established and money-making authors have taken time to advise us. Their common denominator?

SELF-DISCIPLINE.

Now if you cannot handle that, we understand. We get it. No one said it's easy! It is not. But if you're still reading and not faintly or heartily disgusted with me as I tell you that one doesn't become an author: One makes themselves an author by repeated effort, day by day..

Read on, then tell me in the comments where you think  you could improve and what you think you're doing right. With over fifty published books to my credit, and more to come, I can tell you I absolutely copy-catted Margaret Daley, Lenora Worth and Linda Goodnight when I was pre-published because they were:

1. NORMAL 
     By that I mean these women are relatable, they talk like normal people, they never talk down or act pretentious and they really long for others' success. I wanted to be like them in proficiency and attitude. They kept it simple and set a great example!

2. THEY WORKED HARD
     I respect hard work. I am the Mike Rowe of the publishing industry in my mental attitude, I like to see people succeed, but I'm not a big fan of hand-outs because we do better when we have to expend effort and work toward something. Hard work isn't a bane. It's a blessing and we could use more of it.

3.  I LIKED THEIR WORK
     It's hard to emulate, copy or be affected in a good way by work you don't like or admire. I like being able to talk to the race that knows Joseph, the simple people, the everyday Joes of this world. The ones pulling a grocery tote down the streets of Brooklyn or tying up a baby swing in a tree in central Iowa. The ones stopping to pick up their mail at the miniscule post office in a Midwestern town and the ones getting 17 boxes from Amazon a day. I like people and I like to uplift them, and these ladies were accessible with work I liked. #HUGE  I'm going to pick two names from the comments and those two people will be able to pick any book from these authors (kindle edition) and I'll send it right out to you.

From Award-winning, bestselling romantic suspense author Lynette Eason:

I found that I simply had to make a choice. When I wasn't spending time with my family, I had to choose between writing or scrapbooking, writing or television, writing or......fill in the blank. Most of the time I  chose writing. Unless there was something on television that I was just dying to watch, I spent the time writing. Often, I got up earlier than everyone else and wrote. Or, I stayed up an hour or two later than everyone else and wrote. If I was going thru a drive thru line, I never minded if it was long. I'd write on the notes app on my phone or a scrap of paper in my car. I found the word, "no" really was in my vocabulary. I said no to a lot of things. They weren't bad things (like teaching Sunday school! LOL--after all, think of the prep work that goes into teaching!), but they weren't things that would move me forward in my pursuit of publication. I think people just have to find what works for them and do it. :) NOW, after seeing the reward of my perseverance, I could say yes to teaching a Sunday school class. If I felt God leading me to do so. :)

Lynette's newest release is available from AMAZON:

From Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Linda Goodnight: 

During my day job years especially, I gave up a lot of things, though I prioritized for two things-God and family. Everything else could go by the wayside. I do mean everything--social events, committees, whatever. I quickly learned to say no in a nice way.

For years, I was clueless when people discussed TV, movies, or "stars". I simply didn't see them. That was writing time.  I kept to a strict schedule of writing from 7-9 every night and all day Saturday and most holidays. I didn't even answer the phone. And I squeezed in other writing time

 where I could.(Early on, I promised the Lord that I would not work on Sunday unless it was truly a deadline emergency.)  Now that the day job is a memory, I have more flexibility, but building a career takes discipline, determination, and sacrifice.  Ugh. Not fun, but necessary.

One more thing I put aside at first was reading, and I do NOT recommend this insanity. Writers must read. Reading stretches us, makes us strive to be better.  Iron really does sharpen iron.  And besides reading is wonderful!

Here's one of Linda's wonderful novels linked to our friends at Amazon: 

And here you're going to find a similar track from NYT bestselling author Lenora Worth:

 I have given up lunching with friends, committee work (after years of being on church and organizational and writing committees I suddenly realized that's not my thing.) So I gave it up. Whew! More time to write, less time worrying and fretting about committee work.

I sometimes give up evening tv to go back into my office to edit or work and I've sometimes had to say NO a lot. A really LOT! No, I can't make phone calls for you. No, I can't baby sit since I work at home. No, I can't drop everything to help you today (unless it's an emergency and someone is in real need.)

This might sound selfish but as I told my husband once when he didn't get it-Would you walk off the paint line at GM and come home to help me? No, he would not!

I learned early on before I was published to pretend I was published and to set deadlines. I set aside time to write. A couple of hours here and there, even when I worked full time, trained me to be disciplined every day. Ten pages or at least a thousand words per day. Some days, I'm at six pages and want to stop. I tell myself just four hundred more words and before I know it, I've written fifteen-hundred words!

If you want to write, you will find a way to write. That's what I tell myself every day. I want to write. My house doesn't have to be perfect, my hair doesn't have to be perfect, the dinner doesn't have to be gourmet. But the writing has to come as close to perfect as it can.

Oh, and my one rule--Never ever give up holiday time or weekend time with your family. Work for a while and then live life!! Love to all of you!!! (Thanks, Ruthy!)

Lenora's July Love Inspired Suspense is available here! 

And here are tips from Award-winning author Pepper Basham. Pepper's still raising a family, working and writing, so her words are a real uplift to all of you who are in constant balance mode:

When my kids were young, the only time I had to really write was after the kids went to bed at night because I worked a day job. Even if I only wrote 15 minutes and then passed out for the night from exhaustion, I still chose those 15 minutes. Also, something that I've found INCREDIBLY helpful with a busy schedule (both as a mom of young-ones and now), is to daydream about the story when you can't write about it. For me, that primed my brain for writing when I did have a few minutes here and there.

Now, with kids who are older, I have more writing time, consistently, in the evening. I also, now, have occasional time to write during my lunch break. Daydreaming about the story is still a mainstay, but I'm also extremely thankful to work 4 days a week instead of 5 now, so I have a WHOLE DAY to...,do all the mom-kid appointment stuff, but also spend more time learning about the whole author-marketing stuff, actually READ books, and keep writing. 

I also RARELY watch t.v. Occasionally, I'll need brain-break from writing, so I'll watch a fav movie or join hubs watching the Hallmark channel (yeah, I got him stuck on it), but t.v. is not something I do a lot.  (Learning to say "no" is a good thing too ;-) and knowing WHEN you need to say yes.

A link to one of Pepper's wildly popular novels!

 You know how to find whales in the ocean?

Follow the food.

Same with writing. Follow the successful authors. They may not be the most talkative, or the most hands-on, or the most flamboyant. I've watched a lot of flamboyant authors crash and burn and/or die a slow, drop-in-sales death.

Don't do as some say: Do what others do. Write the books and keep on doing it.

Hey, leave the comments below and we'll chat. I'm farm-crazy right now, but coming inside and chattin' with all y'all is the best break ever!

Multi-published, bestselling and award-winning (Whew!!!) author Ruth Logan Herne is living her dream of writing great books and growing pumpkins.

What more could anyone ask???? :)

You can find Ruthy on her pumpkin farm in Western New York and on the web at ruthloganherne.com or friend her on facebook or follow her on Twitter (where a lot of folks do not behave nicely. I'm just sayin'....)


And Ruthy's latest mystery is out from Guideposts!!!!!

One person will be drawn to get a hardcover copy of this mystery, but ya gotta tell me you want it....