5 Things that Help Move You From Parked to Published

You’ve wanted to write forever, but you feel that you are in park. You want to go somewhere
with your words, but you feel stuck.

In today’s Tuesday Tip, I share five things to help you move from parked to published.

Often, writers do everything but write. They pay bills. They mow the lawn. They rearrange
furniture, or they do writing things, like social media or brainstorming. While these are good
things, writing requires sitting in a chair and putting your fingers on the keyboard.
Writers write!

If you are waiting for your muse to show up, the chances are you’ll never write a word. Life is
busy. Mark a day and time in your calendar for writing. Treat it as sacred as you do everything
else on the calendar.

One of the greatest barriers is fear. Can I tell you something? You will receive rejections. You
will make mistakes. You will throw away that manuscript you worked on, because it didn’t turn
out the way you hoped. That’s OK. Taking risks means that eventually you’ll publish. You’ll
overcome that mistake. You’ll learn from that rejection. You’ll pull pieces out of that
manuscript that you hated and put in chapters that you love.

It’s all part of the process. When those things you fear happen, celebrate that you were brave
enough to take the risk. Learn through them. Keep going. You will eventually meet your goal!

Few of us feel confident as people critique our writing, and yet it’s necessary. They may see
something we don’t. They may force us to clarify something that we understand, but it’s vague
to the reader. They may ask us to go deep when we’ve chosen shallow. Not every word of
critique is “gold,” but there’s value in holding up our work to the light of critique.

Procrastination kills creativity. It stunts growth. It lies to you and tells you that you’ll do this
another day, while piling up excuses and marking days off the calendar.
Just start. Put that lesson into practice. Send that query. Polish that manuscript. Learn from that
rejection and then send the next. Don’t wait until you feel accomplished or comparable to that
other writer. Start where you are and grow, grow, grow.

Leave a comment on the COMPEL Blog and share one thing that is keeping you parked in your writing journey. Is it not having enough time? Not having the courage to start? Whatever obstacle you’re facing, make a plan on how you are going to overcome it so you can reach your publishing goals. For example: If you don’t have enough time during the day to sit down and write, you can plan to block off sections of your morning, evening, or weekend to help you make your writing dreams a reality.

In this week’s Tuesday Tip, Suzie encourages you to schedule time for writing and create a sustainable plan to overcome writing habits that are keeping you parked, instead of published. For our COMPEL Members, we’ve created a truly one-on-a-kind resource to keep your writing goals organized! Click here to access our COMPEL Resource Library and download our FREE 2019 Writing Planner to keep your writing momentum going, receive encouragement from the COMPEL Leadership Team and keep track of your goals!

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