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No matter how much advice you take from the 'experts' in managing your time, you STILL haven't found much to become a published writer. Do not dispair!!
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Parent writers can find helpful tips on how to successfully juggle Writingdom and Familydom, two of life's priorities, in a number of places. After all, we need group input when we consider all that goes into the writing career alone.
1. Find an idea.
2. Write it from a fresh angle.
3. Find a market, which means accessing the internet or buying a book to research the markets.
4. Buy sample copies of publications where you feel you could fill a need.
5. Prepare manuscript.
6. Write queries.
7. Send out queries.
8. Send out manuscripts.
9. Make sure you have enough postage, envelopes for manuscripts and replies, and other supplies for the Submitting Game.
10. Receive rejections.
And then there are all the in-betweens of promotion. So even with the plausible suggestions, I know there are still some of you out there who feel you just can't do it. And if you try, something is going to suffer.
Well, I am here to say: DON'T GIVE UP ALL TOGETHER!!
For 20-some years of child-rearing (the span between my oldest and youngest is 10 years), I knew I couldn't wrap myself up in a writing career. Personal circumstances, and you know who you are, just wouldn't allow it. But do you think I gave up writing? --Does finishing 20 novels sound like I gave up writing? I don't think so. Next question!!
Yes, during those 20 years, I wrote 20 novels, countless short stories, a book of poetry, speeches and resumes for friends, curriculums for school children, helped in writing copy for friends' businesses, and anything else I could get my pens on. And I used that time to polish my craft.
I did this while watching the kids outside, naptime, latetime, travel time, waiting for the kids to come out to the car after school, and all the rest of the wonderful ideas you can ad lib. But instead of concentrating on all 10 of those steps at once, steps 1, 2, and 5 were all I could handle at a time. Oh, once in a while I submitted a manuscript or entered a contest. And then, I learned step #10.
So, after 20 years of research, I would like to report the results of this 'Write While You Wait' method? First of all, I've got 4 of the best kids in the world, (But, that's another story.) and as of 1998, I'm a full-time freelancer. After about a year of learning the Submitting Game, I've polished numbers 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the Writing Career steps. (I'll never have #10 down pat.)
I sold my first book to the first publishers I sent it to and 2 more after that. That's 3 books published in one year! I've sold every adult story I've ever submitted. (Except one, for which I received an honorable mention and a subscription to The Writing Parent.) I've been published worldwide, and I only submit to paying markets, unless I want to do the prestige thing. Do you think I could have been so prolific without my Writing Stash?
This Method worked for me. And if you feel guilty about the 'failure' to juggle Writingdom and Familydom, it could work for you, too. Personally, I don't think I'd have it any other way.