No Excuses

That’s my motto in life, so I have no excuse for not posting here before now — I just haven’t gotten around to it. I’d like to blame it on the fact that I’ve been working like a madman on this most recent copyediting job that got tossed my way, but truth be told I could’ve made the time to put something up. So, no excuses.

And that is an important mentality for any writer, I think. When it comes to this industry, getting published is essentially only a matter of time as long as you keep at it and constantly strive to improve and learn as time goes on. Making excuses, and I’m sure you’ve heard them before, just doesn’t help at all.

“I just haven’t had the time to keep writing.”

“Well, I gave it my best shot and it just didn’t work.”

“It’s not my fault editors didn’t see how wonderful my manuscript is.”

The problem is, these kind of excuses probably make sense to most people, to the point that they wouldn’t be considered excuses at all. And this is where being brutally honest with yourself will really help. You really haven’t had time to keep writing? I wonder how you had the time to watch a few minutes of TV, or read a newspaper, or any of the other million little things that take up so much time everyday. Did you really give it your best shot? Taken writing classes, joined critique groups, attended conferences, worked on improving your craft on a daily basis for many years? Success is rarely, if ever, overnight – regardless of whether it looks that way or not. So editors didn’t like your manuscript? How many did you send it to? Did any leave constructive comments that you brushed aside as being irrelevant? Have you set your ms aside for a couple of months and then come back to it and realized what you thought was so great actually needed a lot more work?

I could go on and on ad naseum, but I won’t. You get the point.

No excuses.