Follow Your Writing Dreams with These Practical Steps to Move Forward

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson 

I love working with new writers. And I love watching them grow into the writers God has planned for them at the beginning. It’s a beautiful dance of who they want to become and what strengths and opportunities God has put in their paths. 

Today I’m going to lay out the steps to help writers follow their dreams and God’s plans with some basic tips. 

When I teach writers, I encourage people to relax, enjoy the journey, and stay on course. Some of those things sound like they’re exact opposites, but they’re really not. There is one foundational truth that makes staying true to all three of those thing possible. We must always remember God is in control. None of us is strong enough, stubborn enough, or even disobedient enough, to derail God’s plan.

So how do you go about plotting your writing journey? 

Here is where we get practical. There are three things you need to remember and evaluate: 

• You've got to remember God is the one who called you and He is trustworthy to bring HIS plan to pass.
• You’ve got to know where you are.
• You’ve got to know where you’re going.

You are Here

To evaluate where you are, you need to know your resources. 

• How much time do you have to devote to writing
• What kind of training/experience do you have
• How big is your online/in person reach (think social media, mailing lists, groups you’re part of, etc.)?
• What is your budget?
• Do you have any writing groups in your area?

You also need to know what the Internet has to say about you. 

• Plug your name into Google and see where you are. Do you show up on the first page of a Google search?
• Plug your name into other search engines (bing.com, ask.com, etc) and see where you show up there, too.
• Check social media. Do you have multiple accounts on the same platform? Are there people pretending to be you? 
• We need to figure out if we need to change/develop/enhance what the Internet spits out about us. 

Choose a Guide (or three)

It’s hard to get somewhere unless we know where we’re going. One of the easiest ways to get somewhere is to follow someone. So for this part, you need to think about two or three people who are where you want to be in the writing universe. Don’t just choose random, well-known people. Put some thought in this and look at people who write things similar to you. You’re going to use their path to success to guide you, so choose well.

Check Each Guide’s Internet presence

• Do the same things with their names, as you did with yours.
• Also look at the places they hang out—do they have any groups they’re part of, places they teach regularly, websites/blogs where they share information?

Evaluate What You’ve Learned & Set Your Priorities

1. Bathe each step—EACH DAY—in prayer. 

• Ask God to give you wisdom and patience
• Ask God to put up roadblocks when you're heading the wrong direction
• Ask God to give you hope and encouragement and protect you from ego
• Ask God to surround you with people who will speak His truth

2. First, clean up any social media confusion. Social media is going to be a huge tool in growing your readership. But before you can use that tool, it needs to be in usable condition. 

• Find your user name and password for every single account. If you’ve forgotten, reset them. 
• If you have multiple accounts on a platform, consolidate and delete. Now, I’m not talking about having a FB page and a FB personal profile, that is fine. HOWEVER, multiple FB profiles are a problem. You should only have one. And you should only have one X (Twitter) profile. You especially want to make sure no one has cloned your name/picture and opened an account pretending to be you. 

3. Now you need to come up with a plan to grow your email list and online reach. It doesn’t have to be a massive plan. What it needs to be is: 

• WORKABLE with your schedule, personality, and goals. 
• CONSISTENT. Don’t come up with a plan you can’t follow through with.

4. Finalize your a guide. This would be a person—or a composite of several people—who are where you want to be in the world of publishing. After you come up with your guide, this is what you’ll want to do:

• Research, research, research!!!! Look at where this guide is with social media, publishing, and online interactions. Decide what is duplicate-able for you and how that would look in practical application.
• Set realistic goals. Such as, “I will work on growing my email list 1000 subscribers by…”

5. Now track your plan as you work it. Set interim—achievable goals—with rewards. This will help you stay motivated and see progress.

These are the steps I suggest to help writers move forward. What suggestions would you add? 

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

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Edie Melson is a woman of faith with ink-stained fingers observing life through the lens of her camera. No matter whether she’s talking to writers, entrepreneurs, or readers, her first advice is always “Find your voice, live your story.” As an author, blogger, and speaker she’s encouraged and challenged audiences across the country and around the world. Her numerous books reflect her passion to help others develop the strength of their God-given gifts and apply them to their lives.Connect with her on her website, through Facebook, Twitter and on Instagram.