No matter who you are, be consistent

Are you consistent in your writing goals?

This is an important to ask yourself. Equally important is how honest you are in answering it.

Do you have a time set aside to write on a REGULAR basis?

Some people think that means they need to write every day. I have a good friend who has a super busy life. She is only able to write on Saturdays. She's a multi-published author.

She is consistent.

I remember in college [that was BEFORE I had 4 kids, 2 dogs, 2 businesses and a part-time job] I consistently spent 3-6 hours every day [except Thursday] studying. I had a schedule and I kept to it.

And I graduated college with a 3.9 GPA from the honors college despite working part-time, serving on committees, getting married and getting pregnant with my 1st.

For me the most difficult part of learning to be consistent AFTER children was the idea that being consistent meant working constantly. It doesn't.

It means doing something on a regular basis.

I used to work on my writing consistently in the evenings when my husband was at work. Then when we had our third and adopted our fourth my evenings were too chaotic with the kids to do anything but collapse in the evenings. I watched TV for an hour or two and then fell asleep. I created that habit.

Then when Chris was going through Chemo for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma [those of you reading my story of "How I got here" know about my husband's cancer battle] I spent evenings with him talking or watching movies together on the couch.

And now I've had to break those habits. Chris works at night a few nights a week and the kids are grown up enough that I don't have to keep going upstairs. I've had to break old habits and create new ones.

I have a to-do list [I write one every evening, consistently]
In the morning I start going through my to-do list as soon as my kids start their school work. [They start at the same time, consistently]
I use a calendar to schedule activities so I don't feel I have to run and do something because I just remembered it. [I schedule consistently]
I stay on task; I do what I can; I go to bed guilt free because I know I did all I could.

It is a process you go through. Find the things that are wasting your time, eliminate them, focus on your goals [remember last week], and be consistent. This Writing Career Coaching and Mentorship program was created by little pieces that I did consistently. They added up and suddenly I realize I have something that has taken on a life of its own...and that's what you want.

I will pick up HIGH tomorrow. I want you to spend those three minutes today writing out your to-do list for today or tomorrow and move forward.

And if you haven't yet subscribed using the feedblitz box to the right, do it now. The Mentorship site will be up soon. Even if YOU don't need a mentor the link I send out will be transferable and you can pass it along to anyone you know who could benefit.