Are You Working Out Your Writing Muscles?
In fear of sounding like some cheesy infomercial, here goes nothing. Stick with me, kids.
When you want to excel in something, what do you do? You train. You work out. You get opinions and coaches and help any way possible. Think of Olympic athletes. They didn’t just roll out of bed one day and think, “Heck, I’ll go run the 100m dash and win gold tomorrow. Lemme call mom and get her a plane ticket.” If they did, I promise I’ll eat my shorts. Seriously. Salt, pepper, you name it. You know why? Because it didn’t happen.
Ya gotta start somewhere...
No, they trained. They trained HARD. It was a long way to reach the Olympics. Why, then, do we as writers expect writing to be any less difficult? Why would we think we could do it on our own? If you have no opinions, no critique group, nothing, how is your writing getting any better?
Now, if you’re like me, you had absolutely NO clue where to go for assistance. You didn’t want to show up to some random book group and be the only normal person there. (You think you’re normal now. Wait until you’re writing your book. Trust me, you’ll cross to the dark side with us…bwahahahahhaa…ahem.)
For those of you that are like me, online groups are the best thing to happen since…well…books in general. If you write YA (I’m partial), PLEASE take the time to go check out YALitChat. I am so serious when I say that YALitChat is a goldmine of information. There are loads of amazing people willing to help you. There is nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Also, if you want to see some agents who have led me in the right direction (At least, I think so…could still be out in left field and don’t know it) per their blogs, check out Janet Reid, Colleen Lindsay, Rebecca Gardner, and Kathleen Ortiz. 
The amazing thing about the writing industry that I’ve found is you are able to surround yourself by amazing people. Unpublished writers, published authors, agents…they are all there to help you. You can create connections and get great feedback from writers who are working toward the same goal as you. All you need to do is reach out.
The other thing is we hear of the quick make-it-to-fame stories, the ones from the first MSs that just flew up the book charts (ie Harry Potter, Twilight, etc.). Sure, it happens, but we also need to be realistic. Working on our craft, we can only get better. Don’t expect to whip through your first MS and become an millionaire off the first draft. Don’t query agents telling them your book is going to be “the one” that trumps HP, Twilight, etc…because they’ll probably laugh right there. If you’re new, like me, we have to run our courses and take the time to educate ourselves before we jump into the fray. Otherwise, what is going to come from it? Us feeling pretty bummy due to the fact that we received form rejections and the agents having wasted time reading our queries that weren’t ready. We can eliminate that by working at our craft, practicing, and getting stronger. There’s no shame in slow and steady…especially if the difference is becoming a better writer and landing an agent because of it.
So what’s stopping you? Pride? Nervousness? Just flat-out don’t where to begin? We’ve all been there. But what’s stopping you from flexing your muscles, becoming a stronger writer, and writing the book you’re capable of? Because if it’s just you…
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