I’ll do it as long as I can do it well.

I have come to the conclusion that there are a few different kinds of procrastinators. There are those who have far too much to do, so they are always pushed up against a deadline. That means nothing gets done until it is urgent.

Then there are the procrastinators who find everything so easy that they put it off to the last minute in pursuit of pleasures like movies and games.

There are those who are intimidated by a task and will put it off as long as possible, hoping it will go away.

I’m the type that only enjoys doing what it is that I do really well. This goes for everything: writing, cooking, working, speaking or anything else. As long as I know I’m getting results [positive results] I don’t care how much effort is involved. I will work at it. I want to do everything with excellence. I want to be the best. I push forward to that goal.

That is what makes writing so hard sometimes. It is highly subjective. What is a winning entry in one contest doesn’t even final in another contest. The book project one editor asked for, a publishing board wants to use to start their Christmas fires.

For a type-A personality, writing can offer exciting challenges, an opportunity to learn as well as a horrible assault ones ego. It is an illogical, ever-changing business.

However, it is that change that is most exciting. You are never sure one day to the next what you will work on. What bit of information you will read that will spark a story idea? What plotting technique will change your writing?

So, I guess the best thing we can do is to recognize what it is about us that causes us to put things off…and shut that part of ourselves down. Once we do, the potential for success for a driven person is wide open.

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! After the first of the year we will only be posting to our main website. There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more. In order to receive or continue to receive these postings by e-mail, subscribe here.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

When have you 'arrived'?

In my pursuit to be excellent in my field I spend a great deal of time studying the lives and careers of excellent people. I enjoy pioneers and famous people. By that I don't mean the latest "tabloid tartlette" but rather great performers who have stood the test of time.

One of those is Billy Joel.

I was watching part of a documentary put out the summer of 2008 where he recounted his breakout album 'The Stranger'.

I have been a huge Billy Joel fan since...well, since Piano Man came out [the song] which I think was some time around Kindergarten or first grade for me. I've always been intrigued by the swing and flow of Billy Joel's songs [and I really enjoyed the show "Bosom Buddies" which had a Billy Joel song during the opening credits].

He had a great way of creating a story out of a song. His songs Lenningrad, Noreastern Alexa, Piano Man, Don't forget your second wind, Goodnight Saigon...well, a good number of his songs, drew us in to the lives of people we knew. We felt we experienced these songs. We lived these songs.

So I was surprised to learn that "The Stranger" was a surprise hit, and Joel's 5th album.

I wondered how he had felt when he signed with his label in the years leading up to that career changing work. I imagine it had to be the same way most writers feel with their first book deal. But what separates an amazing career like Billy Joel from many writers is they see that first deal as a sign that they're there. They've arrived. They no longer need to learn, nor do they need to grow.

If you look at great writers and performers you'll see that the voice always stays recognizable, but the craft grows. They realize that there is no such thing as "Arriving". Former Press Secretary Tony Snow said as much after he was named Press Secretary to President Bush.

So what does it actually mean to arrive?

I think that arriving is when you come to the place where you're so comfortable with your own unique writer's voice that you're able to begin to let it mature without fear that you'll lose it totally. I think it is when you stop sounding like a conglomeration of your favorite authors and you begin to sound like yourself.

I think it is when you become fully teachable.

Have you arrived?

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Craft

For our last post before we start in to Feb. I want to talk a bit about craft.

I am a huge advocate of "Writing the Breakout Novel" as a workbook but we're going to be even more general than that today.

What is craft? How do you develop it?

Craft is something that you have to work at. You may have natural talent [some of you may have incredible talent] but without craft you'll never reach your full potential.

One key to maturing as a writer is to recognize how much you don't know. When I wrote my first manuscript I thought it was the most brilliant set of words to ever land on paper. Truly, I was enamored with my genius. It was inconceivable that anyone could write something more riveting than that story.

When I placed in the top 20 of a writing contest...well, I knew I was already the champ. The story was destined for greatness. I stopped learning. I had arrived. Books would be written about my rise to fame. People would flock to learn from me.

That manuscript never went any further. I'm embarrassed that anyone ever saw it associated with my name!!

That is because I've grown in my craft.

As I begin to meet writers at higher and higher levels of success my belief in the greatness in humility is reinforced.

Humility is not self-depreciation. It is recognition of ones limitations and then the willingness to do what is necessary to push past them and grow as a writer. It is stepping outside your comfort zone and seeing yourself for who you really are.

It is like the scene in the movie "The Never-Ending Story" where the warrior realizes he's the boy in the attic [and vice versa]. Once he had that realization he was able to go further than he ever thought possible. He was able to do great things. Recognizing his limitations allowed him to exceed them.

That is what our craft can do. If we recognize that we are not good at writing dialog then we can recognize that limitation-and push past it. That is how we go up a notch.

Get together with a critique partner. Hire an editor to read the first 30 pages of your manuscript. Do something to find your weaknesses in craft.

Then, armed with that knowledge, get the tools to turn those weaknesses in to strengths.

Sunday starts the first day of the rest of our month. Get ready to break down barriers and push past limitations. Forget everything leading up to this moment.

Let's get going!

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Hit 2009 Hard.

This is the final week of 2008. Every year I look at the final 10 weeks of the year and it seems an eternity until Christmas. Then in a blink they're gone. Two of my kids have birtdays in those last 10 weeks. There are holidays, family gatherings, dance recitals, more family gatherings, snow storms, more family gatherings...and family gatherings.

So as I stand on the edge of 2008/2009 I take a deep breath and prepare to jump in to the new year.

This year I'm hitting 2009 hard. I have a few goals personally and professionally. The final quarter of 2008 has been a preparation time. I feel as if I've been stretching back in to a giant rubber band. All I have to do is lift my feet and the tension of the rubber band will be too much and I will be slung in to the new year.

Spiritually January is a month of prayer and fasting in our church-and I am participating.
Emotionally January is a month where I'm spending more time reading for pleasure.
As Tiffany January is a month where my husband and I are focusing on building stronger relationships in our family [us and our kids].
Financially January is a month I'm working hard to reach specific goals.
Professionally January is a month where I will jumpstart the year with webinars, articles and public speaking. I've never attempted all 3 in one month-so it will be an interesting challenge.

Everyone wants to make New Years Resolutions but few people take the time to prepare for them. Determine what you'd like to accomplish in 2009 and make January your foundational month. For writers I have a mentorship program that lasts 3 months. The first month is $40, months 2 and 3 are $30 each. You receive "Intro to the Writer's Life" and "Creating a platform" [which together retail for $50].

If you'd like a one hour brainstorming/goal setting session it is only $20.

If you need free then read back through my blogs from January 2008 forward. See what ideas you can glean from them. Go to the library and borrow "Writing the Breakout Novel" and "On Writing" by Stephen King.

If you got gift cards then look at my suggested reading list and see what you can find to build your writing business this year.

But determine to do something. Not a New Year's Resolution-but a foundational shift in your writing business.

My first goal for 2009 is to double our readership that subscribes to the blog by the end of January. You can help me with that by telling a couple of writer friends about this blog and asking them to join.

I'd also like to visit 20 different blogs in January. If you'd like to host me on your blog contact me through my website contact page and we'll get it set up.

Make January 2009 YOUR year. We'll have a number of great announcements in 2009 and I look forward to sharing them.

Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your writing business this year. It is my pleasure to share.

And do you have a question? Send it to me via my contact page and we'll talk about it here.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Who cares, as long as I get mine!

...honestly, is this the attitude of people today?

Usually I keep the focus of this blog focused on marketing your own business but sometimes as I'm reading things in the industry and I get furious. Today I was reading about the News Guild and their strike with the AP. One line in particular made me furious.

"The Guild said it had opened with a 10 percent wage increase proposal, "but has indicated flexibility at the bargaining table."

I am a writer and I understand the need to make a living and it is hard as a writer sometimes to sell an article for $80 and try to make a living on those but LET'S BE SERIOUS.

Yesterday I found out a friend was laid off from the job he's worked at for 39 years. He was the 3rd person in a single group of friends to lose work in the last month. Then I heard from a newspaper journalist who lost her job after years with the paper.

And the people working for the AP look around and say "Hey, I think I'd like a 10% pay increase."

Now, I'm not an idiot. I know this is a negotiating tactic and they were responding to a rate freeze proposal from the AP, but we need to stop being so obsessed with being able to upgrade every year and realize that there isn't a magic money tree.

I am working on a product that I'll give FREE to subscribers that talk about ways to keep your writing business strong in a down economy. That is because the reality is THINGS ARE CHANGING. The change could be temporary but certain things will never be the same. We can't say "Hey, I want it this way."

It's not viable.

I minored in college in history and I have been frequently reminded of the enclosure acts enacted by Feudal Lords in the middle ages. These acts forced many serfs to face the end of their way of life but it led to the rise of the middle class-and the death of feudalism as an economic system.

That is a pretty brief summary, but it serves to make my point. [If you're interested read more about it in a western civ book...one that isn't revisionist.]

We have decided that we want change without the pain. It won't happen. We can't keep bailing people out by printing worthless currency...just ask Germany.

We can't continue to demand huge salaries for people who aren't working...just ask France.

We need to look realistically at economic situations, recognize that change is necessary and sometimes painful.

And, as smart people, we need to look for the opportunity in the changes. It is the innovators who will find blessing in this tough time.

Otherwise you'll be the people asking for scraps when the market corrects itself again...

Friday I'll be back to my usual, chipper self. Today I had to unload.

I'd love to hear your feedback-just use professional language please.

And if you want that special report I'm writing then click the subscribe link to the right. I will only email it to subscribers.

If you'd like to read the entire article that started this rant, click the quote above. I've linked directly to it.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Maximizing your writing mood cycle

This past Saturday I was a workshop teacher at the Y-City Writer's Conference in Zanesville, Oh. The Y-City Writer's Group did a great job of putting together a very professional conference and I appreciate all the time and effort they obviously invested in such a great event.

While I was there I was able to sit in on a couple of classes and really learned a great deal that I'm applying to my business immediately. I was also able to meet a very sweet author, Linore Rose Burkard. Her next Regency book will be coming out soon. I thought it funny that in a recent blog I mentioned that I had NO clue what Regency was and then I met a Regency author. I knew her through a local writer's group already, but only by email.

Today I want to talk about attitudes.

Writing is an emotional investment. Whether you're writing fiction or non-fiction, articles or novels there are many different emotional components that must go in to every piece of writing you do.

That means our attitude will will affect what we write. Sometimes it's as simple as creating writer's block. I find that if I'm worried or really angry it is difficult to focus enough to write well. Maybe you have a similar experience?

As I told the group I was teaching at the conference, one of the easiest times for me to write is when I've just sent a project off. There is a sense of completing something great as well as a hopeful expectancy. I can imagine all the editors who will look on my words and wonder how such a great talent is still undiscovered. Smile. [I'm a writer, I think creatively]

The hardest times for me to write is when I'm on the last 30 pages of a novel or when I've just received a novel.

So take a look at your "writing moods" and see when it is that you are the most productive. Make sure when you organize your time that you are doing extra work during those periods when you're most productive. And if there are things that steal your creativity [stress, worry, anger, fear] take steps to eliminate them from your life and from your writing space.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter