The Step That Bridges The Gap Between You To Your Writing Dreams

What do you do?

How many times have you been asked that question? Countless, probably.

And how do you answer it?

You probably tell them about your day job and the fact that you’re a parent. But how often do you answer that question by telling people you’re a writer?

Probably never, right? Because you’re not a writer.

You want to be, but in order to be a writer, you’d have to actually sit down and do the work required to actually call yourself a writer.

Reality Check Time

It’s really very simple.

You’re either a writer or you’re not. You either put words on the page or you don’t.

If you put words on the page, you’re a writer. If you don’t, you’re not. Period.

You may even have a starry-eyed belief about what being a writer is all about (book signings, bestseller lists, movie premieres and quitting your shitty day job). But the truth is, it’s not like that at all.

At least, not at first.

No, at first it’s you all alone in a room with a computer and your thoughts and ideas. At first it’s forcing yourself to do the work and put in the time required to create something amazing with your words.

And while the need to put the work in doesn’t change as you gain success as a writer, it will become more like second nature to you, because you’ve put in the work all along.

There’s one small thing that connects you to being successful at this whole writing thing.

Taking Action

Action is the bridge between where you are and where you want to be. It’s the path that leads to your dreams and to you becoming the writer you want to be. 

And when you take action deliberately and consistently?

Whoa! Watch out because then you’ll really blow things right out of the water!

Maybe you’re stuck or hesitating because you’re not sure what action to take first (or next). Maybe you’re not taking your writing seriously, even though you should be. Or maybe you’re just afraid.

Whatever is stopping you from taking action right now probably won’t ever go away completely. But if you want to be a writer you need to take a stand against whatever’s holding you back and take action anyway! 

Sometimes in life everything you’ve been dreaming of is right on the horizon, just waiting for you. Waiting for you to show the Universe you’re ready for your dreams to happen and that you’re serious about what you say you want in your life. Waiting for you to prove that  you deserve to reach your dreams.

You do this by taking action. Every single day.

And no action is ever too small.

Can’t write 500 words? Write 300. Can’t make an hour for writing? Set a timer and see how much you can write in 20 minutes. Don’t know how to get started? Go to Google and type in “how to get started writing” and see what comes up.

There’s always an action you can take. Always something you can do to move yourself closer to your goal.

And the best part is, when you start doing that; when you start taking action purposely on a daily basis, magic will happen. Suddenly things around you will sync up and you’ll start to run into opportunities that were never there before.

Action. Doing the work. Taking writing seriously.

That’s what it takes to be successful as a writer.

How are you taking action toward your writing goals?

About the Author: Jennifer Blanchard is the Chief Procrastinator and founder of Procrastinating Writers. She also blogs over at InkyBites. You can get even more great writing guidance from her on Twitter. 

Image courtesy of Victor1558