writersguide

    Where will your career be in the year 2000? Without self-discipline, the answer is—nowhere.
    I'm assuming that those of you reading this article are at various levels of your career. But let's pretend for a moment that everyone is brand new. You know you want to be a writer, you have the burning desire, you've discovered your genre in romance, you're ready. Bubbling with excitement, enthusiasm on high, you ask, "What do I do? How do I start?"
    My instructions will focus on self-discipline. And that discipline never ends. It will change in structure, but the essence of it will always be there. If you fight it from day one, you'll defeat yourself; you won't become a published author.
    So here you are—Miss Brandy New. You tell me that you work outside the house, but hope to someday make writing your full-time career. We establish the fact that you have two hours a night to devote to your writing.
    Brandy, I say to you, I want you to read between 50 and 1000 romances-we'll compromise on 75, none of which are to be over six months old. Of the two hours a night you have, spend one hour reading already polished work, and one hour writing fresh material on your book.
    As I was speaking, three other Brandy News inched closer, and so four heads bob up and down. Four Miss Brandy News are ready and willing to follow my instructions.
    At the end of one week, I speak with each one individually to get a report on how they did in the beginning days of their assignment.
    Miss Brandy New #1 says she started reading the books, quit halfway through the first dozen because she didn't really like the stories, then got into the routine I'd outlined. An hour of writing, an hour of reading.
    Miss Brandy New #2 is jumping up and down with excitement. Yes, she read for an hour, and yes, she wrote for an hour, but on the third night the writing just flowed, just dripped off the tips of her creative fingers and she stayed up all night turning out page after page of brilliant work.
    Miss Brandy New #3 discovered she can't read other people's work while writing her own, because she can't keep the plot and characters separate. So, she is now using both hours for writing.
    And Miss Brandy New #4 says she alternates between reading one night for two hours, and the next night writing for two hours.
    Which of the Miss Brandy News executed a firm display of self-discipline?
    None of them.
    You may be thinking, "Come on, Joan, don't be so tough on the Brandies. After all, they were working, each in their own way." You may, in fact, have heard a speech of mine in the past where I've said you have to discover who you are as a writer, and what works best for you as far as approaching our craft.
    I have, indeed, given talks of that nature, but what must be understood is that you must first earn the right to experiment with varying work habits. From the moment that you sell that first book you are subject to instructions, timetables, do's and don'ts, dictated to you by your editor. To carry out those instructions, you must already have a solid hold on self-discipline.
    So, yes, I'm going to be very tough on all four of the Miss Brandy News.
    #1 Brandy will be told that I didn't say she had to like the stories, she had to read them. Each one is a textbook, has something to teach her. If she didn't like the work, why not? Was the characterization shallow, the plot weak, the resolution flimsy? What made her put it down? If she'd continued on to the end would she have seen the author pull it all together, make it work? No excuses, Brandy #1—read every book cover to cover.
    #2 Brandy started out fine, but went nuts with her all-night marathon. It sometimes takes as much discipline to stop for the day as it does to get started. If you want to have your family's support throughout your career, if you want to keep burnout at bay, you'll quit when you reach your daily quota, knowing that if you're writing is all that wonderful it will be there waiting for you tomorrow.
    Miss Brandy New #3 said she can't read other's work while writing her own. Well, she'd better learn how. Studying the market will never end. TV watching is narrowed down to one or two favorite shows a week. Writers read. Always. If you're not keeping up with the market, you're not keeping up with your own career.
    Plus, once you sell consistently you are continually pulled away from your own work, to do your own work! You're writing a new book, and here comes the revision letter on the one you sold several weeks ago. You have to get back into the minds and emotions of characters you created but haven't seen for many weeks. Later, you're back working on the new book, and the line edited/copy edited copy arrives, pulling you away again. Later, the galleys show up on your doorstep. Self-discipline from the beginning as to how to move in and out of people's lives smoothly will hold you in good stead forever.
    #4 Brandy blew it in a very elementary way. She didn't follow instructions. She took it upon herself to shuffle the program by reading one night, writing the next. She hadn't earned the right to do that yet. On her first set of revisions is she going to say to herself, "The editor wants this scene changed? I don't. So, I'll do it my way." Brandy #4 isn't going to last long.
    Was I all that tough on the Brandies? I don't think so. Get self-discipline solidly established right from the beginning and earn the right to shuffle and shift it to your own needs as time goes on.
    Write everyday. Read every day. As the Nike ads used to proclaim—Just do it!
    Where will our careers be in the year 2000? Hopefully, alive and well, and we have a greater chance of that being true if we continue to grow, and never lessen our firm hold on self-discipline as each day passes into the next.

Joan Elliott Pickart is the author of over eighty novels, including long and short contemporary romance, historicals and mainstream women's fiction. She received the Best New Series Author of the Year award from Romantic Times in 1985, and is a one-time Golden Medallion (RITA) award finalist. The Society of Southwestern Writers awarded Joan a certificate of Award for Outstanding Acheievement, and a Certificate of Recognition for Notable Attainment as an Author. Joan's books consistently make the Waldenbooks Top Ten Bestseller list and often enjoy the number one spot. She has even been on the USA Today Top One Hundred Bestseller list twice for cross-line series. Joan is the co-founder of The Professional Writers of Prescott, a member of the National Romance Writers of America, The Phoenix Desert Rose Chapter of RWA and a charter member of Northern Arizona RWA.