Keep Focused

November 2011 began to drag on and I, for the first time, began to start to suffer from boredom.

Since I had resigned from my job and finished in early May 2011 I had enjoyed every moment (except for the crippling pain in my lower back) and had settled into a regular routine. Writing from Monday to Friday with weekends off, just like normal day to day work, I also had time for some voluntary work, plus I had my weekly meeting with Dangerous John down the pub for my manuscript reviews.

Now I was hanging around to hear if I was to progress in the new writers competition and from the selected agents I had approached. My routine I had built my life around had stopped as quickly as had my writing. I was just-hanging-around and my waistline began to show from its after-effects.

I was now only seeing the Chiropractor once a week as I couldn’t afford to pay for anymore visits. My back was slowly getting better and I was still popping too many pills. I knew regular exercise is good for back problems so I decided to start going back up the gym as it was cheaper than the Chiropractor.

I found that walking helped to ease the pain in my back so when I hobbled into the gym I went straight for the running machine. In my case it was a slow walk for 45 minutes. Every step I took felt as if I was standing on some sharp glass, but after I finished I felt as if I was making progress. I think about it know, and it was my mental fitness which I was working out that day and the following days too.

The main difference between a writer that makes it and a writer that doesn’t is that a published writer will have kept focused. They keep to a regular routine and if situations change then their routine changes too.

You must keep focused on your goal of getting published and never waver. With every step in the process you must be thinking about the next step you will take, especially from the constant rejections you will face on your journey, and how you are going to handle it, but more importantly; what are you going to do about it?

If you keep focused and are prepared to change with the situation then you are more likely to succeed than someone who isn’t.