PROFESSIONAL WRITERS ... gotta do a lot of things they don't like. Face it. Yeah, it's more fun to sit in your quiet corner -- or the local coffee shop, or wherever you write best -- and just write and dream about fame and glory. Well, there's work involved in being a professional. Pull up your big girl pants and get to work! Learn to LIKE all the non-writing stuff. Make it automatic. Be a professional in your brain, attitude, and actions.
You need to think like a professional, according to the author. Put your mind in the place where you're already acting like someone who does the hard work and practices the discipline. Act "as if" -- meaning putting into action the things you want to happen, as well as already living as if your success is there.
Well, that's my interpretation of the lessons. I just finished reading the book a day ago and there's still a lot swirling around in my mind. A lot of groaning over exercises "do I GOTTA?" put into practice. One little mind trick I need to figure out how to apply is what she calls "working from" instead of "working toward." I want to be a specific place in my career, but instead of figuring out how to get there, I figure out what it's like already being there, and kind of work backwards. Okay ....
There's a lot to devour, a lot to apply, and a lot of exercises to analyze yourself and motivate yourself, packed into this little book. One big hurdle I need to overcome is my classic response to advice people give on promoting their books: "WHO has the TIME?" Well ... a professional writer makes the time for all that stuff.
Aarrgghh ..... So, here we go!
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