The Holy Trinity of Writing

{Photo credit} Some days I feel oh so lucky! That’s what I felt with author Dina Santorelli asked me to guest blog for her and then sent me this jewel of a post here. If you’ve ever wanted to be an author, then you’re in luck too. Read her inspiring story about how she completed half her first novel in about 6 weeks! All you NANAWRIMOs out there will appreciate this one.

On August 9, 2010, I completed my first novel, Baby Grand.It was one of those wonderful, fulfilling moments when you not only finally achieve a career milestone, but accomplish a lifelong dream.

I’m often asked how I managed to do it, finish a 279-page book while nurturing a family, a household and a freelance writing career. Truth be told, part of my incentive was having an agent waiting for my manuscript on the other side of the finish line. A deadline lit a fire under my butt and got me churning out 1,000 words a day, every day – I wrote more than half of Baby Grand in six weeks.

But beyond the deadline and the agent, there are other, less tangible but more important, things that got me here. And can get you here too. I call them the Holy Trinity of Writing:

1. Belief in Yourself. I know this sounds basic and cliché, but I can’t tell you how many people rely on others to give themselves validation or encouragement. This is a lesson you need to learn and learn now: No one else cares about you writing a book, but you. Sure, you have supporters and cheerleaders, and they’re terrific – parents, BFFs, professors, book club buddies – but they’ve got their own dreams to follow, their own lives to lead. They can’t hold your hand, as much as they might want to. In the wee hours of the night, it’s YOU who’s doing the typing. It’s YOU who has to crawl out of bed an hour earlier to spend an hour writing before heading off to work or making lunches for the kids. If this book is going to be, you are the only one who will make it happen.

2. Optimism.You have to believe that you can write a book. That it’s not only possible, but likely. Visualize it. I’ve seen so many talented writers who are full of excuses: “Oh, it’s who you know… No one’s interested in my story… The business is changing… Blah blah…” Is it surprising that those people are not novelists today?

3. Drive.Baby Grandis a book that was 15 years in the making, beginning as random notes and chapters when I was in my twenties. And although I wound up putting the novel away for a while to live life – travel, marry, have babies, start businesses, grow a freelance career, go back to school – it was always there, in the back of my mind, waiting to come to fruition, even during those long nights spent with vomiting children. ESPECIALLY during those long nights with vomiting children.

One of my professors once asked us during class: “Why would anyone want to be a writer? There are so many other fun things to do in the world rather than sit in front of a computer by yourself.” She’s right. Those people who sit in front of their computers and write, the ones who forgo sleep or nights out with friends or homecooked meals – do it because they can’t NOT do it. They have to write. They want to write. And if you do too – I mean, REALLY want to – you have to put it first. Make room for your book in your life. Treat it as you would your paying jobs. Because if you treat it as a hobby, that’s all it will ever be.

Dina Santorelli has been a freelance writer and editor for over 13 years. Most recently, she served as the “with” writer on the book, Good Girls Don’t Get Fat, by Robyn J. A. Silverman, Ph. D., which was published in October 2010 by Harlequin. Dina’s debut novel, Baby Grand, is represented by The Stonesong Press, LLC in New York. Her blog titled, “Making ‘Baby Grand,’” celebrates the writing life and chronicles the angst-filled days leading up to (fingers crossed!) the publication of Baby Grand.