Five Things That Got Me to Today

Today, I’m going to take a little bit of a different approach with my week. I’ll do another prompt or something tomorrow, but right now I’ve got something else I’d like to discuss. If you’ve been following my posts over at World of the Scribe, you’ll know that I’ve been hitting many milestones. One of these is having sold my 40^th copy of my debut fantasy novel, Spell of Entrapment. I can’t believe the number has gotten that high already.

A lot of you out there are aspiring authors and writers in the making, possibly wondering how someone ever gets to selling 40 books in about 2 and a half months time. I’ll walk you through the five things that got me to where I am today.

#1. The Writing itself. I’d never have sold 40 books if I wasn’t already so passionate about the written word. Writing has been in my blood since the days of elementary school. It’s not something I can just turn my back on at a moment’s notice. I’m almost always constantly writing a story, or thinking of a story. I do whatever I can to make sure that I make the time for writing.

#2-Study The Craft. It’s not just enough to write. You have to study the ins and outs of the craft, both in the writing field and in the publishing field. There are so many tricks to the trade you’ll want to at least familiarize with. You don’t have to do everything people tell you to do, because then where would that leave you with the rest of your life? We’re each and every one of us busy people. Take only what you need.

#3- Understand Your Limits. This builds more on what #2 has established. There are only so many hours in a day. We have to be ready to deal with the limits time and life impose upon us. Why, I have far fewer hours in the day than I used to, mainly because I have a day job and family responsibilities. That’s why whenever I do get a moment, I take full advantage of it. I won’t get to write all the stories I want to write, but I’ll make sure to write as many as I can, and enjoy the ride from there.

#4-Moral Support. Our friends and families may support our writing endeavors to an extent. Yet as we writers have our own set of limitations, so do our loved ones. They may be on board with our writing, but they may not understand our passion, or why we just can’t give it up. Then again, maybe they think we could be doing something better with our time, something like household chores or taking on a second or even a third job. We need our moral support to keep us going. For that, we’ll have to turn to other writing friends.

#5-Perseverance. Lastly, I never gave up, even in spite of all the adversity. I kept going until I reached that 40^th sale. And I’ll keep going until my dying breath. That’s how committed I am to writing, and that’s what it has taken to get me to these sales. May all of you out there realize your publishing dreams, too.