For those of you who are waiting until the last minute to enter my Great Holiday Word Count Challenge, maybe that’s the problem: waiting. In order to be a writer you have to be pretty good at waiting. We used to wait eons for the snail mail rejection slip. Now we wait eons for the email rejection or worse, the rejection whips back before you finish clicking “send.” In that case, waiting is related to developing the courage to submit again.
We writers wait while that windy person in the critique group finishes her oration on what-went-terribly-wrong with our workshopped piece. And we are absolutely longsuffering, should we finally receive payment for those hard-won words. For those of you still waiting for the first byline, you may not believe it but if you wait long enough, you may even forget what piece of writing the check was for. Writing is waiting!
Writing Tip For Today: The Great Holiday Word Count Challenge is one of the rare opportunities writers get to NOT WAIT. Leave a comment today about how you are going to burn up those keys during winter holidays. Post it to comments or email me with your entry. Hurry, Thanksgiving’s already over and the contest closes December 31, 2009. Don’t wait. It may be the last time you’ll be a writer who isn’t standing in line for something. Remember: Grand prize (A Free One-Hour Editorial Consultation and Chocolate) winner will be announced on January 4, 2010. No purchase necessary.