One of the post pressing issues in a writer's life is the problem of consistency. It is the single most important tool any artist or professional can gain. While not all writers believe in rituals or schedules, each successful writer chooses to write each day, each month, each year.
The problem of consistency is a problem of priorities. What do you value the most? How much time will you spend in front of the blank page of a computer screen. How much time are you willing to spend reading? How much money are you willing to spend on books, conferences, websites, retreat, computers or journals.
While one does not need to be unemployed or jobless in order to write (and in my own case joblessness only hinders the ability, desire and will to write) and there is no direct correlation between money spent, books read or networking achieved in relationship to the effectiveness or greatness of a writer's work, each time you read a book, each time you write a poem, article or page, you are sacrificing something else for your art or your profession.
For many artists the sacrifice is the most difficult part.
Can you decide to write everyday for the rest of your life?
Will you decide to edit, and edit, and edit consistently and effectively?
How much research do you need to do, how many books do you need to read in order to achieve the level of writing that you are aiming?
Each day, you must awake and decide that your writing is worth it. And satisfied or not, the next day you must awake to make the same decision again.
Consistency may very well be the only aspect of a writer's life that is more important than talent. Perhaps the discipline to prioritize your own writing's worth is a talent in itself.
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