ITB 067 So You Want to Write

Quest: http://www.susanmarymalone.com/your-quest-matters/ Jeff Goins:  http://amzn.to/1G9cpmN Today, I wanted to share a story about a new writer that I met at a conference. Recently, I was invited to speak at a Writer’s Conference in North East Texas. This was awesome on many levels: a) I get to talk about blogging b) I got to talk about blogging in a small town where I spent part of my youth 3) I invited each attendee to spend 20 minutes with me one on one and many of them did. It was a long two days but it was awesome. One of the attendees was there to learn everything that he could about writing. He has a desire to write and a passion for life but he has not started the process yet. This guy is full of life and quite a character. I was immediately drawn to him because he just seems like someone who could be quite interesting to read. We had a one on one and I explained to him what blogging is. He had never heard of it and had no idea. At first he was like “nope, I don’t wanna do that.” Then the next day he hunted me down and asked to talk again because he had an idea. His idea is to create a blog around his path to becoming a writer. Now, let me just say right here and now that I opened my speech at this conference by telling authors to stop blogging about writing. Author after author creates blog after blog and 90% of the time, they are about the process of writing. Readers don’t care how much you slave over the words that entertain them, they just don’t. Once they love you a single blog post about your process may be novel but post after post, no way. Now, with that said there are sometimes exceptions or variations to the rule. This guy I believe is a rare exception but do let me explain. He is going to take what Susan Mary Malone has taught me, is a Hero’s journey. This guy has a goal and he has no clue how to achieve it or what the path is going to look like. He is going on a journey to chase a dream and he will have many adventures along the way, I just know it. While we already know that his quest is to be an author, you could insert anything in this path such as being a craftsman or building a flying model planes. See this concept is already not just about being a writer but rather shooting for a dream and the process of what that involves. He will deal with family issues, time issues, picking out tools, genre struggles and so much more than he can even imagine. If he does this well and sticks with his dream, people will care about him and really want to read his book. However, note that it could be that they want to buy that unusual bench that he made or that weird wooden speaker or whatever. With that said, he asked me what he should do next and below is what I said to him. Ok so here is what you wrote to me in your questionnaire: I figure a couple hours of just blogging, but remember, the topic will be learning how to write.  I will spend much more time developing that skill which will provide fuel for the blogging. So you have a dual path and one means nothing without the other. We should call these Author Path and Blogger Path. My suggestion is that you do something towards Author Path right now, unless of course your wife wants you to unpack, the wife always comes first. Author Path Note: I am making these up and should just get your brain flowing but I would ask and answer a few questions: #1: What is the first step to becoming a writer? I just finished this book last night: http://amzn.to/1G9cpmN and you may want to read it. Do you have a Kindle? #2: What am I going to write about? Pick a first focus. #3 How much time am I going to dedicate and when? Make a commitment to yourself and then announce it to the world. Make sure that it fits with family time and is wife approved. It really helps to have your spouse on board, just listened to a podcast about this, which is why I bring it up. Blogger Path Write a blog post that is about those first 3 questions. Yes, you don't have a blog yet but do these things and then we will discuss that. Blog on, -Renee' P.S. When are you going to do this? So what do you think folks? Can you answer these questions for your what and your passion or goal? Blog on,