How I Found The Write Path blogfest

This week, the wonderful Carrie Butler is hosting the How I Found The Write Path blogfest. This is an excellent idea that aims to collect advice from seasoned publishing professionals (or not - we're all on the journey somewhere) in the form of a letter to themselves when they first started writing towards publication. Genius!

Here's the brief:

Please write a letter/note to yourself when you first started writing toward publication. The only thing I ask is that you keep it under 800 words, including as many (or as few) of these elements as you like:

   - A lesson you learned the hard way

   - Something you didn’t expect about the industry (positive/negative)

   - A writing-related resource you could never do without now

   - One thing you’d change about your journey

   - One thing you’re glad you did

   - Your number one tip for pursuing publication

   - Anything else you feel is worth passing on

INFORMATION: 

   - The name you wish to be credited as
   - The title (if any) you wish to follow your name, i.e. author of the series
   - One major link where people can find you, i.e. website, blog, Twitter, etc.

PLEASE INCLUDE:

   - Whether or not you give me permission to use your entry in the e-book compilation. Don’t feel bad if you don’t want in. We’d still love to read what you have to say!

And here is my letter:

So, you finally took the plunge and started writing that novel. That’s a big step, and I wish you all the very best. I’m not really here to give you advice about plotting or characters, because you’ll figure that out as you go along with the help of all those brilliant writers you are yet to meet. No, what I really want to say to you is, CREATE A ROUTINE FOR WRITING. Stick to it! You went part-time at work for this. Make that time count. Don’t just write when you feel inspired, because sadly that isn’t going to happen every day. Get your bum in that chair and get words on the screen. Whatever you do, DON’T spend nearly the next four years agonising over this book, sweating over every word, including six months of waiting to hear back from an editor someone had put you in touch with! She might not like it, so don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

What you really want to do is get online and meet like-minded souls who will offer ceaseless advice and support. It makes everything a lot better. Some of them might even be able to have a look through your stuff and tell you what works and what doesn’t. You’ll get to a point where you can’t tell up from down, so you’ll really need some fresh eyes and an outside perspective. Reading their stuff is going to be a great learning experience, too.

So, my number one tip for pursuing publication? DON’T BE ALONE. There’s no need to be when there’s such an array of welcoming writers out there to share the journey with. Writing is a hard slog. Not going to make any bones about that, so you’d better get used to it. But it’s a whole lot sweeter when there are others you can share the heartache and joy with, who’ve been through the same things and are still going through them. Savour those friendships, because you’ll need them when things get tough.

Nick Wilford, http://nickwilford.blogspot.co.uk/

I give permission for my entry to be used in the ebook.

Visit Carrie's blog to check out the other participants!