The Necessary Habit You Need Before You Can Write a Book http://ift.tt/1H95IGc @jeffgoins #blogging

Every day someone emails me asking a question about getting published. I try my best to point them in the right direction but often the advice I give isn’t what they want to hear.

Photo Credit: Sarahnaut via Compfight cc

I certainly didn’t want to hear it when I was starting out. But this thing I tell people is nonetheless entirely necessary if you ever want to publishers a book.

If you want the world to read your words, you have to do something before you ever dream of getting published. What is this something? You may have guessed it by now. It’s the very thing we writers tend to struggle with the most.

You have to write every day.

You can’t write a book if you aren’t writing. Getting a publisher or cracking the code on self publishing to Amazon isn’t going to change anything for you if you aren’t already writing.

These big breaks won’t make your writing life easier. They’ll make it harder. Getting a publisher, getting a book out into the world, getting your work noticed — these things create anxiety, not peace. They put pressure on you to create, and if you aren’t in the creative habit already, you’re doomed.

So what does this look like? I think forming the creative habit requires three things, which I’ve shared before. You need: a space, a time, and a goal. But to really succeed at creating a new habit, you need three more ingredients:

A reason to write. I’m a fan of not writing as an exercise. Write with intent, as my friend Marion says. In other words, create something you plan to publish, something that must be said.
A plan. If you don’t block out time to write, it’ll never get done. But you also need a plan for what you’re going to write. Otherwise, you’ll waste your time.
A community. Writing, in spite of what we hear, is not a solitary effort. The best creativity often happens in collaboration with others. Without a community, you’ll never do your best work.

Most people miss these things. They say they want to write a book some day. They believe they have something to say — and probably do — but without a regular writing habit, it just won’t matter.

You won’t publish a book if you aren’t writing daily. It’s just that simple. And if you aren’t practicing, what you write won’t be worth reading, anyway. What’s more, a daily writing habit makes you a better person. I’m confident of that.

That’s why I’m such a fan of Author Launch, an online community of writers that encourages you to write that book you’ve always wanted to write. There’s nothing quite like it.

Author Launch is a year-long course that delivers weekly video lessons for 46 weeks straight, teaching you everything you need to know about writing a book — from finding the right voice to outlining your book to launching it to the world.

When you commit to writing every day, amazing things happen. They did for me. After a year of writing every day, here’s what happened to me:

I built a blog with over 50,000 readers.
I got a publishing contract.
I started making money off my writing.

Honestly, I never intended to do any of that, but that’s the power of a habit.

If you find yourself saying, “This year will be different” every year, then maybe it’s time to do something different. I suggest getting a plan, joining a community, and having others hold you accountable to your writing goals.

Author Launch does all of that for you, and for the next few days, you can join with an exclusive discount just for being a reader of my blog.