Do you tinker, or do you write?

So which do you do??

This has really nothing to do with whether you are a "full-time" writer or a "part-time" writer. It has everything to do with your level of commitment to your writing goals.

Recently I was talking to a few writing friends and I noticed something. Those who spent their entire time talking about all the great things they WOULD do one day, then following them up with all the 'explanations' [a-hem, I call them excuses] why they weren't further along, were the same people who did that the last time we had a meaningful conversation on writing. It seems the only creative writing they do is write out to-do lists and impressive lists of reasons they are not yet published. As you can imagine, they will likely be in the same place next year.

The people who are fairly quiet about their writing are the listeners and learners. They are the ones who are really serious about moving forward and they work at it with dogged determination. They spend time reading and learning the craft in addition to applying what they learned.

What is funny is some of the busiest people are the ones who are working the hardest to reach their writing goals. Many "full-time" writers spend great deals of time THINKING about writing, but they spend very little time actually writing.

I recently asked myself which I was going to be. Was I going to keep hoping and planning with no forward movement, or was I going to set deadlines and force myself to meet them?

I found that when I had to start working more outside of my writing, suddenly I got more serious about my writing. I realized how much I loved to write and I longed to put words on a page.

So those of you who work outside the house...dreaming of spending long days with your stories, don't feel your missing out. It could be that you are more of a professional writer than you know.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter