Friday, November 22, 2013

Keep Writing by DeAnna Dodson



DeAnna Julie  Dodson

Are you feeling good about what you’ve written today, this week, this month? Do feel charged up and excited about where your writing career is at the moment or headed in the near future? No? Then you’ve come to the right place. Be inspired by author DeAnna Julie Dodson (also writing as Julianna Deering). ~ Dawn

Keep Writing

 I've heard it takes ten thousand hours of practice before you can become proficient at any art. Assuming a forty-hour week and a fifty-week year, that's five years.  That's if you do nothing else.  That's a lot of time.

If you're a writer, you write.  It's as simple and as hard as that, but it's required.

Perhaps you're a born writer and put in that time little by little over your whole life, maybe even before you knew you wanted to write professionally.  Perhaps you never expected to write at all and a story started beating on the inside of your head, demanding to be told, leaving your 10,000 hours ahead of you.  Either way, that's a lot of writing.  A lot of time spent alone with your imagination.  A lot of time to get discouraged. 

Believe me, I know.

I never dreamed I'd be a writer. I certainly never thought I would be published. After playing at writing for a while, I decided to get serious about publication. Then everything changed.

Suddenly this fun little hobby of mine was serious business. I had already put in a lot of my hours, but now I had to worry about what other people thought of my stories. I had to worry about meeting real deadlines. I had to worry about whether or not I was clever enough, talented enough, polished enough, experienced enough, whatever enough.  It was (and is) easy to let discouragement distract me, frighten me, paralyze me. But, fortunately, I am not the first to walk this path.

Discouragement is common in our profession. I've collected quotes from writers and other creative people that encouraged me to stay on course, to keep working even when it seemed useless, to keep trying to improve. Because without resilience, tenacity and dedication to craft, none of us will succeed in this or any other business.


Maybe some of these will inspire you as they have me.

"Fate finds persistence irresistible."
– from the website of author Nancy Moser

"Character is what you do on your third or fourth try."
–author James A. Michener

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."
–inventor Henry Ford

"Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it."
–author Ralph Waldo Emerson

Of course, the greatest encouragement comes directly from the One who gives us our gifts and delights in us using them:

For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, "Do not fear.  I will help you."
–Isaiah 41:13

And remember that, no matter what is going on in your life, happiness is a choice you make one day at a time:

"Today, I will be happier than a bird with a french fry."
–author Tom Nelson



Tweetables:

If you're a writer, you write.  Click to tweet.

It takes ten thousand hours of practice to become proficient at any art. Click to tweet.

To succeed in any business you need resilience, tenacity, and dedication. Click to tweet.




Drew Farthering loves a good mystery, although he generally expects to find it in the pages of a novel, not on the grounds of his country estate. When a weekend party at Farthering Place is ruined by murder and the police seem flummoxed, Drew decides to look into the crime himself. 

With the help of his best friend, Nick Dennison, an avid mystery reader, and Madeline Parker, a beautiful and whip-smart American debutante staying as a guest, the three try to solve the mystery as a lark, using the methods from their favorite novels. Soon, financial irregularities at Drew's stepfather's company come to light and it's clear that everyone at Farthering Place could be in danger. 

Trying hard to remain one step ahead of the killer—and trying harder to impress Madeline—Drew must decide how far to take this dangerous game.




DeAnna has always been an avid reader and a lover of storytelling, whether on the page, the screen or the stage.  This, along with her keen interest in history and her Christian faith, shows in her tales of love, forgiveness and triumph over adversity.  She is the author of the medieval romance trilogy In Honor Bound, By Love Redeemed and To Grace Surrendered, and has written four contemporary mysteries for the Annie's Attic series.  As Julianna Deering, she is the author of the Drew Farthering Mysteries:  Rules of Murder and, coming in 2014, Death by the Book and Murder at the Mikado.  A fifth-generation Texan, she makes her home north of Dallas with three spoiled cats.

To learn more and connect with DeAnna, please visit:


Twitter:  @deannajuldodson

Facebook:  Author Julianna Deering