Straight Talk from Belle & Ruthy

Ruthy here:

There is no easy way to tell you this:

Writing is work.

It takes a rare amount of self-discipline because no one is hanging over your shoulder, watching you work, expecting five 8-hour days from you on a weekly basis.
They do expect a book to be delivered in a timely fashion. That's what they're paying you for, but then it's in your hands.

Do you punt? Or run the ball and get the job done?
You would be amazed at how many people punt.
If you don't know what punting is, go look it up.
We'll wait.
(Plays Jeopardy theme song in her head while waiting...)
That's right, it's to kick the ball to the other team. It's to open the door for others to have a chance. It's to put your future in someone else's hands.
Now, punting is a crucial part of football.
It's not good in writing books.

Writing is good in writing books.  Let me raise my hand and say I've been the recipient of a few contracts others couldn't fulfill and it's better to be on the receiving end than the punting end.
No one hands you a contract with a wink and says "Whenever you get it done, we'll be waiting."
And anyone can catch a lucky break or two, but it's not luck that garners contracts and readers and editors and agents. It's work.

I know, that sounds simplistic. But it's true. Simple truth. You don't have to be the greatest author to be a successful author, but you do have to write books and keep writing books. And these days, if you write a book that doesn't sell to a traditional publisher, you can have it edited and put it out as an indie, and that kind of wipes away any excuses we may have. It's not enough to want to be a writer...

It's that you have to write to be a writer. 

A thousand words/day. That's about 4 pages, my friends. And if you did that every day, you have 365,000 words at the end of the year. If you take Sundays off, you have 313,000 words/year. And Christmas and Thanksgiving... 311,000 words/year.
That's four books.  And that's the math behind the actuality.
Yes, we write because we're inspired, but some days you have to just get to work, even if the inspiration is scarce because it's amazing how it roars back to life once you sit down and get to work.
It's okay to 'just do it'.... Because you can.

Somewhat bossy and brazen, Ruthy has over 50 published books to her credit, and her newest release, "Finding Peace in Wishing Bridge" is the third book of her bestselling Wishing Bridge series. She's telling you this because she's not afraid to say she knows what she's talking about... and it comes back to writing... and working. 

Now let's hear from bestselling, award-winning hybrid author Belle Calhoune.  

Belle here. Thanks for those pearls of wisdom, Ruthy. 

Writing is work. Incredibly hard work.

Don’t ever forget that writing is a business and it’s work, whether you’re published or unpublished. Time-consuming, unrelenting work. As a hybrid author I’ve spent the last five years writing Indie books as well as traditionally published books with Harlequin Love Inspired. To date I’ve published roughly 41 books. Counting novella sets, it’s probably closer to 45. People always ask me how I’m able to write so many books? I think the answer lies in my desire to get it done.

Drive. Work ethic. Commitment.

I think writing is really putting one foot in front of the other and marching toward deadlines. Keeping to a daily writing schedule is imperative. I don’t pencil in my writing for certain hours during the day, but I make sure I have a word count goal and it’s so important that I make that goal. Since my house is very quiet (except for my two dogs, Beau and Copper) I like to do the bulk of my writing in these hours. It’s distraction-free writing time, except for that pesky Facebook which always tempts me.

Avoiding distractions is imperative.

I’m a social person, so Facebook can be a serious distraction from my writing. For Lent I gave up posting on my personal page, although I still will post daily on my author page. This is really going to help me focus on my projects at hand. At the moment I have to edit a Love Inspired book, finish my fourth book in the Owl Creek series, finish a Pelican Bay Indie book and do some serious work on my first book for Grand Central’s Forever line. Being an author is very much like being a professional juggler. There are always balls in the air that we don’t want to fall to the ground. My advice is to recognize the things that hamper your ability to write. Cut out all the distractions, even if it’s family and friends (obviously not permanently). I have to put a note on my writing den door to keep my kids out. One of my daughters told me she hates seeing that sign up, but for me it’s creating a safe work space. They would never consider going into my husband’s law office and interrupting him at his workplace. *If it’s something really important of course I’ll open up the door.

Sacrifices

A few years ago I had a deadline right before Christmas. Waaah. I had to make some hard decisions that year that included missing a lot of fun holiday events. I felt sorry for myself but then it hit me. I’m a writer with deadlines. I signed contracts knowing I had these deadlines.

Sometimes you miss out on things. And that particular year I was behind on this project so if I had planned better I probably would have been able to attend those events.

I’ve stayed up until four in the morning to finish a book. I’ve written books in notebooks while my husband is driving. I’ve taken my computer to sporting events and written at half time. I never want to be that author who has to bail on a deadline. First of all, it’s not professional. And second, you never know what that might cost you professionally. With Love Inspired they slot us into a particular month, so they are counting on us to hand in our books on time. I don’t ever want to put myself in that position where I’m not turning the book in on time. Of course there are unforeseen events in life that pop up that make it impossible to deliver such as family emergencies or illnesses.

Goals

For me, being productive is a major goal. I like to look back on what I’ve accomplished and set goals for the new year. The hard work you put in always comes to fruition. In 2020 I’m releasing three books with Harlequin Love Inspired. The schedule was grueling, but so worthwhile. My next big challenge will be writing three books for Grand Central’s Forever Line. The word count is 75,000 which is much higher than I’m used to. But, having established a firm writing schedule over the past few years, I think I’m in a great place to wrap these projects up.

Belle Calhoune is a Publisher’s Weekly Best-selling author of Inspirational romance. She was recently added to the RWA Honor Roll.  Growing up in Massachusetts across the street from a public library shaped her early life. She is a hybrid author, writing for Harlequin Love Inspired and Grand Central (Forever line) while also self-publishing. She has written over forty novels. She is the author of the best-selling series, Seven Brides, Seven Brothers and Secrets of Savannah Series. Belle is known for creating diverse characters. The winner of the Angeline Bishop award for multicultural debut for her Seven Brides series, Belle has hit the best-seller lists with many of her books.  Recently, one of her books, An Alaskan Christmas, was made into a television movie (Love, Alaska) by Brain Power Studios and aired on the Uptv network. She lives in Connecticut and enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.  Writing in her pajamas is a great perk of being an author.

Ruthy Again...

Belle and I have similar work ethics and views on this gig: It takes writing to write. And if you love it, it's not a hardship, but it is a 'show up for the job' kind of thing that requires your self-discipline.

One thing Belle touched on was December deadlines... I avoid them now, because time is so fractured in December. Give me November.... or slip me in January because with a big family, the holiday season is filled with family and church activities. No one wants writing to make them cray-cray. We want the joy and fulfillment (and the paychecks!) because it's just downright fun to get paid for what you do... but we want to be able to balance things. And this is a job you can do that in, but you have to look ahead, plan ahead and write ahead.

And this is coming from a woman who's about to fulfill a contract two months early (purposely) which is lovely because when they asked me to step in on another story... I was able to say heck, yeah. And I put my name on the dotted line for that extra book just six days ago.

It's what you make it, folks. What you're willing to give to it. Take it from two women who work hard to get the job done: It's an amazing ride, some ups, some downs, but definitely worth the price of the ticket!

 Hey, we've got a couple of giveaways here for you today: Ruthy is giving away a copy of Finding Peace in Wishing Bridge, her lastest release and Book 3 of her bestselling "Wishing Bridge" series for Amazon.

And Belle's got FIVE (5-- show off!!!) copies of her beautiful "An Alaskan Twin Surprise" from Love Inspired!

 

 Leave a comment about writing or reading or your undying love for romance.... and your name gets put into the sugar bowl!