A Writer's Marathon

Is this the 3rd time I've tried to revive my blog?  I think so.  But this time, the revival has been inspired by the DFW writers conference.  I had signed up for it several months ago, in an attempt to connect with the writing world here in Dallas.  I found myself on Friday night, sitting on the couch, dreading having to get up early on a weekend where I was lucky to not be rounding in the hospital. Boy, was I in for a pleasant surprise.

Saturday morning began with an informal session on improving your "pitch," where writers try to convince literary agents to consider their manuscripts.  I discovered quickly that was surrounded by writers who... well, write!  Many had completed manuscripts that they were ready to pitch to agents who were attending the conference as well.  Many had set aside time in their busy lives to write and to produce and to persevere in perfecting their craft.  Not a single utterance of medicine the entire weekend... it was refreshing.  I felt like I was masquerading.  No one needed to know I was a physician, and it felt sneaky good.

Pediatrician by day, writer by night.  It has a nice aura to it!

But I digress...

At the conference, I met Sean, who had several published sci-fi short stories, and was waiting to pitch his novel because he wanted to instead focus on raising his teenage daughter.  I met Katie, a mother who works part-time from home, but wants to complete a manuscript based on her experiences with African refugees learning English as a second language.  I met Piper Bayard a "recovering lawyer" turned published author.  I met Kristen Lamb, a best-selling author and social media expert.  All these individuals inspired me to get serious and produce.

If Kayla, a mother of two, can write 3000 words per week and take care of her 20 month old, why can't I?

In one session, a published young-adult author provided us with this reality check: "5% of people want to write.  Of these, 5% actually write.  Of these, 5% get to chapter 3.  Of these, 5% get beyond chapter 3.  Of these, 5% finish the manuscript.  Of these, 5% revise their work.  Of these, 5% will query an agent." And so on.

Bottom line?

If you want to be a doctor, you have to study, and study hard.  If you want to be a writer, you have to write.  I've accomplished the first (and still working on it).  And now thanks to the DFW writers conference as inspiration, I'm going get working on the second.

Stephen King says in his book On Writing, that writing the first million words is practice, and I think Kristen Lamb and Piper Bayard reiterated this concept very well in their respective seminars, stressing that regular writing initially is an appreticeship.  They both stressed that blog writing is good practice, akin to marathon training before running a marathon.  Hearing that advice was the single best thing I could have done in my ambition to become a writer.

They also said never blog about writing.

Oops.  But I need to start somewhere!

So here I go....