By A.C. Williams by @acw_author

Writing is a challenging career. I’m not sure there is another industry out there so torn between the artistic and the practical. Because, make no mistake, writing is an art. But if you can’t make your art practical, it won’t support you enough for you to continue doing it.

So where is the balance? How do you write to market so that you can sell enough books to write what you want? Or if you want to pursue a more artistic version of your storytelling career, how do you find a part-time job that will support you financially without draining you creatively?

All of those questions are important, but throughout this year, the same question kept popping up: How do you have time to write?

Honestly, that’s the most important question you need to answer if you want to make a long-term thing out of this idea of storytelling.

The truth is, I don’t have time to write. I make time.

You can dream about being a bestseller all day long, but if you don’t make time to write, you aren’t going to do it. You can fantasize about talk shows and podcasts and book-signing events, but if you don’t make time to put actual words on the page, you won’t make progress at all.

If you want to be a writer, you have to write.

That sounds simplistic, but you’d be surprised how many aspiring authors don’t make intentional time to put words on a page.

So, if you’re willing to work for it, there are three steps you can take to start actively moving toward your dream of becoming a writer.

Step One: Stop telling yourself you’re not good enough.

The only reason you would tell yourself that nonsense is that you’re comparing yourself to someone else. A word of advice? Don’t compare. You are a different person who has lived a different life and has a different set of skills. You can’t compare yourself to another author because you are unique. Just like they are unique. There’s no comparison.

We’re not talking about marketing here. We’re talking about writing. Don’t get ahead of yourself. If you psych yourself out before you’ve even started, you’ll give up.

If you have a story to tell, if you have a message to share, you are the only person in the world with your unique voice and perspective. That more than qualifies you to tell your story.

It may not be polished. It won’t be perfect (nobody’s first draft is, guys). But it will be yours. So stop holding it up to other people’s work to see if it’s good enough. If you look at it from that perspective, it will never be good enough.

Step Two: Develop your own process and stick to it.

Every writer writes differently. There is no right way to write, as long as you’re getting words on the page. The only wrong way to write is not to write at all. You can’t do anything with a blank page. If you write something, at least you can edit it, but if you haven’t written anything, you’ll stay stuck.

Believe me, I know how a blank page can be intimidating. That huge expanse of white paper (digital or not) mocks you and tells you that you’ll never have enough words to fill up a sentence, let alone a paragraph.

Don’t listen to it. Just write something.

My favorite professor in college required his class to do freewriting. Five minutes of freewriting every day. It doesn’t sound like a lot until you’re staring at a blank sheet of notebook paper with nothing to write. But it built in me a habit of being able to start writing something, even if it was awful.

Get something on the page. You can always fix it later. If you wait to have the perfect words, you’ll never start.

Your process needs to work for you. You can’t use someone else’s methods, but if you develop your own habits and schedules, you can be consistent. And it’s consistency that makes the difference in cranking out words.

My schedule? As long as the sky (or a grandparent) isn’t falling, I write for three hours a day, four days a week. But that’s my schedule. And I am blessed to be able to set my schedule for myself now. When I worked a corporate job, I only had time to write on the weekends. But I still wrote.

Set a schedule that will work for you. Know if you work better in the mornings or the evenings. Make it sustainable. And then stick to it for a few weeks. Maybe a few months. If it’s not working, adjust.

Step Three: Celebrate the progress you’ve made.

I stink at this one. I’m not good at celebrating, because my perfectionist nature kicks in and tells me I should have done more. But it’s my job to kick my perfectionist nature in the teeth and celebrate what I got done.

Ten pages? One page? A paragraph? Whatever. Celebrate it! You put words on the page, and that’s a big deal.

Writing is hard. Writing for Jesus is harder. Don’t discount the emotional, mental, and spiritual strain it will take on your mind and your heart. When you get something done, no matter how long it takes you, celebrate. Acknowledge it.

And then? Do it again. And again. And again. Until you’re finished.

You will never have time to write unless you make time to write. So grab your calendar or your planner and get started. You can absolutely do this.

Award-winning author A.C. Williams is a coffee-drinking, sushi-eating, story-telling nerd who loves cats, country living, and all things Japanese. She’d rather be barefoot, and if she isn’t, her socks won’t match. She has authored eight novels, three novellas, three devotional books, and more flash fiction than you can shake a stick at. A senior partner at Uncommon Universes Press, she is passionate about stories and the authors who write them. Learn more about her book coaching and follow her adventures online at www.amycwilliams.com.