So Write Already!

This was supposed to be a post for Tween the Weekends, but the Emblazoners have abandoned that meme. Not enough interest and higher priorities. But as I had mine written already, I’ll post as scheduled. Emblazon is still alive and strong, however. You can check out great new Tween content every Wednesday.
“So write already!”
Those were the words I said to myself about this time last year. To understand their full significance, I have to bring you back a few years.
I started writing novels in 2003. I plunked away at my stories whenever I found the time, which wasn’t often. Those were baby days. I wrote during naptime and after bedtime—when I wasn’t too exhausted. It often took me two years to finish a book. That was okay, though, because every publisher I approached turned me down. (And for good reason!) But I was learning; I was improving. By 2011, I had four solid novels in my drawer.
That was the year I jumped into self-publishing as well as into blogging. I found I loved to blog. I mostly reviewed middle grade novels, which meant I spent a lot of time reading. During 2011 and 2012 I was posting two or three book reviews every week. I was also homeschooling, which takes nearly, not quite, as much time as a full-time job. In other words, reading was sucking up all my free time. Though I did publish two more books in 2012, they were both years-long projects. For a decade, I had only been writing about 20,000 to 30,000 words a year.
Last year I realized that if I wanted to actually move all the stories in my head onto paper, I was going to have to buckle down and do it! So in January of 2013, I committed my free time to writing. Only after I had poured energy into creating did I allow myself time to enjoy someone else’s work. That meant way fewer posts on my blog and far less check marks on my to-be-read list, but boy has it paid off.
Last year, I finished not just one, but two 60,000 word novels! Plus I got 20,000 words into my current manuscript. That’s 140,000 words! Quite an improvement, wouldn’t you say? I have another 120,000 words planned this year.
I write this not to brag (though I am quite proud of myself!) but to encourage the writers who might be reading this. Do you really want to be an author? Put the time in. Commit to it now. Make this the year you finish and publish that novel you’ve been picking at for years. Set aside the things of lesser importance (like television) and write already!