Whoa, what
a concept! A whole year to devote to
what I eat, think, and sleep every day: writing. I would start off every morning with pen in
hand to write my “morning pages”. This
is a successful exercise for writers from the book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia
Cameron. I write in long hand in a
stream of conscience thought for three pages to dump all the trash out of my
head. Then I would proceed to a quick
bite to eat, say my morning prayers and then sit at the computer to finish the
novel I have been working on for the last 3 or 4 years.
After
devoting a couple of hours writing time to my novel, I would then take time to
write either my weekly editorial article for the local paper, The Independent,
my monthly essay for the
e-zine, goodmorningplanetearth.com, or my bi-weekly entry
for my writer’s group blog.
After
taking a lunch break, I would do some query work to find a children’s book
agent for my nine picture book story series.
I would also rotate doing promotional marketing for my first two books,
“Home Is Where The Heart Is” and “Home Is Where the Learning Is”. I have been sending copies off to book
catalogues and reviewers for more exposure of my work.
For the
last hours of my writing work day I would work on my homeschool writing
projects. I write for a bi-monthly
family newsletter which includes an article about a positive aspect of
homeschooling, a curriculum page for parents that I have designed and a review
of two homeschool websites.
The week
would come quickly to an end as I maintain this schedule of writing and
promoting. Each month during this
fabulous year, I would take one week off to travel to book conventions
promoting my books, writer’s conferences to improve my writing or schedule book
signings for bookstores to sell my books.
This would also include interviews on all the morning news shows and all
the evening talk shows.
After
finding an agent for my picture book children’s series, I would carefully
follow through on the artist’s picture design for each book and then see them
through to print. I would devote time promoting
my children’s books through catalogues and book signings around the
country. Another stint on all the talk
shows would be due for promotions.
After taking
six months to finish my novel, I would send it off for editing and work on
another project. I started a screenplay
a few years ago and I would take the next three months of my writing schedule
to finish it off and find a market for it.
The last three months of this wonderful year would be spent working on
my next manuscript for publication called, “Dogs, Blogs, and Hobbits: Writings
from a Widow’s Perspective.” This would
be a collection of the essays I have written for the blog and ezine I have contributed
to and put together in book form. The
manuscript would be sent off to be edited and a cover design would be chosen.
The more
projects I start writing, the more I want to write. My writing can be compared to a small
snowball rolling down a hill, picking up speed and size until it is so big that
it fills a whole mountainside. This is
what I would do if I had a year to devote to my passion. And because of this devotion, my writing
would fill the whole earth in promoting family, homeschooling and inspirational
living.
Now ten years later I am the author of 6 books which are all non-fiction on the importance of the family. I am the contributing writer for many wonderful blogs and websites including deseretnews.com, familyshare.com, ksl.com, ldsblogs.com and others. I have 10 grandchildren to visit and I am remarried with a new life to write about.
It is amazing when you put your mind to something you are very passionate about and keep it going for as long as possible.
Be that person who inspires others to be better and don't let the blues get you down.
Happy New Year and may you all find what your passion is and follow through in the coming year.
