#WednesdayWordswithFriends Welcomes Erica Vetsch @EricaVetsch

Good Moring and Welcome to the Last Wednesday Words with Friends post in June!

Well, as of tomorrow, the year is officially half over. This is the time when many folks evaluate where they stand in achieving their goals or resolutions they set on New Years day. As I look back over the months, I know I'm not where I wanted to be writing-wise but my life seems to be on track in most other areas. So I'm not complaining! What I AM going to do is turn this post over to our guest, Erica Vetsch as she gives us a deep dive into writing. Take it away Erica.....

Just Do It.

Can you see the NIKE slogan and swish on the side of the shoe box? Ah, the power of advertising. But the slogan does have a connection to what I’d love to talk to you about today.

One comment I often get from people I meet, once they hear I am a novelist, is, “I have always wanted to write a novel, but I never seem to have the time.”

Fun fact for you. 

Nobody does. 

Nobody is gifted a swath of life covering a couple of months to a couple of years that is chalked off as “This is when you get to write your novel with no interruptions, no other obligations, and no problems.”

Novelists write in the time they carve out. It’s that simple. If you want to be a novelist, you have to say no to other things in order to capture time to write. It might be less TV time. Less time shopping, or hanging with friends. It might mean less sleep. (GASP!) 

It certainly means being aware of where your time goes, and what you can flex and what you can’t. Obviously, you can’t call the boss at the old 9-5 and tell him you won’t be coming in three mornings a week so you can work on The Great American Novel. But it might mean toting your laptop to work and writing on your lunch break. 

You can’t tell the kids to just go lie down in a drawer somewhere over the next week so you can write, but you could team up with a girlfriend to swap play dates so you can have a Saturday afternoon free to work on your story.

Can you set your alarm an hour earlier? (This would be disastrous for me, but it might work for you.) Can you go to bed an hour earlier, take your laptop, and type a thousand words before bed? Can you write while your kids nap, or in the carpool lane? 

Did you know that if you wrote one double-spaced page on your novel every day, at the end of a year, you would have a completed 100K word manuscript? That’s about 275 words per day. (To give you an idea of how much that is, the body of this article is about 500 words.) How long does it take you to write 275 words? Can you find that much time in your day to get it done? 

Wouldn’t you like to be finished with a novel a year from now? Instead of living with the regret and the misinformation that only the time factor is holding you back from fulfilling your dream?

Nearly always, when someone tells me they want to write a novel, but they just don’t have the time, I nod, commiserate, and say, “Maybe someday.” 

But truly, if you want to write a novel, if you’re passionate about it, grab that NIKE slogan by the throat and go! Just do it. 

Make it happen. 

That’s what every novelist does. 

Erica Vetsch is a New York Times best-selling and ACFW Carol Award–winning author. She is a transplanted Kansan now living in Minnesota with her husband, who she claims is both her total opposite and soul mate.

Vetsch is the author of many novellas and novels, including the popular Serendipity & Secrets Regency series and the new Thorndike & Swann Regency Mystery series

Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks.

Learn more about Erica Vetsch and her books at www.ericavetsch.com. She can also be found on Facebook (@EricaVetschAuthor) and Instagram (@EricaVetsch).

The Debutante's Code can be purchased at Amazon, ChristianBook.com, and anywhere else great Christian fiction can be found!

Check out Erica's previous posts HERE.

You are SO right, Erica! Thank you for the reminder. Good luck and God's blessings on your life and writing career.

Whether a writer, wannabe writer, artist, entrepreneur, or WhatEver your dream is Friends, I hope Erica's post encourages you to do something every. single. day. to make it happen.

Until next time, take care and God bless.

PamT