Today is Make Your Dreams Come True Day!
Since it’s also Friday the 13th, you might be picturing this guy making your dreams come true.
Wait, no, that’s the wrong scary dude. This is the Friday the 13th guy.
But I’m not talking about the nightmare kind of dreams, I’m talking about the dreams you desperately want to come true, the ones that keep you up at night because you want them so much.
Weeelll … that’s not exactly what I meant either, but those types of dreams are pretty awesome!
I assume if you’re reading Adventures in YA Publishing, then one of your dreams is to publish a novel. So no matter where you are on your publishing journey, do something today that is an extra step toward making your dreams come true.
If you haven’t quite reached the point where you’re ready to put words on paper, then call a supportive friend or family member and tell them you’re going to write a book.
It will make you accountable to someone other than yourself, and you’ll immediately gain a cheerleader.
If you haven’t set a daily word count goal, set one right now and make today your first successful day of meeting that goal.
If you do have a word count goal you regularly meet, then aim to double it today.
If you’re revising, think about what your greatest weakness is as a writer (two dimensional characters, blah setting, flat dialog, a too-keen fondness for the word ‘just’) and then spend today going through your manuscript focused on fixing that weakness.
If you’re querying, then send a query to that one agent you were too scared to query and brainstorm ideas for three new novels.
If you’re on submission, then research three new ways to build your author platform and do them today.
If none of these feel right to you, then do something else today to make your publishing dreams come true. You’re writers – get creative about being creative!
Writing a book is hard. Getting published is even harder. It’s a process that takes a lot of work, luck, and time. But motivational speaker Earl Nightingale said, “Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”