Anne Marie Pace
 
Avoiding the Wanna-Be Trap If you wanna be a writer, you've gotta write. It sounds reasonable, but it's not easy. When so many other writing-related activities beckon--conferences, writing retreats, Internet chat sites and message boards for writers--sometimes writing time gets pushed aside. Frankly, most of us don't have writing time to spare. If you have a full-time job or you're a parent of small children, writing time is scarce indeed. If you consistently use those scraps of time for writing-related activities instead of writing, you may need to ask yourself if you're using your time wisely. Do you want to be a writer? Or are you acting like a wanna-be? Here are some snapshots of Writer Wanna-Bes: • The Professional Conference Goer: In October, 2002, Stephanie Owens Lurie (at that time of Dutton Children's Books, now of Disney-Hyperion) warned attendees at a regional SCBWI conference to avoid becoming "professional conference goers." She didn't elaborate, but her meaning was clear. The professional conference goer attends every writing conference he can afford. If there's an important editor or well-known agent scheduled to speak, he's there, takings notes on their preferences. He makes it a point to schmooze with everyone he meets, hoping to establish a network to help him get his book published--if he ever gets one written. • The Marketing Guru: If you give this wanna-be a topic and an age group, she can list ten potential magazine markets. She knows by heart the five major publishing houses and their imprints; she can list their editorial turnover for the last year. She can list reputable smaller houses, name their editors-in-chief and group them by region and size. She's an authority on submission etiquette. If she ever finishes a manuscript, she'll know just where to send it. • The Reader of How-To Books: This wanna-be has read every "how to be published" book from How To Write a Mega-zillion Selling Novel in 10 Easy Steps to Point of View: The Is Have It. With a bookshelf full of Writer's Digest books, you'd think he'd be ready to roll. Not quite. But he knows that when he finds the perfect how-to book, he'll be able to put pen to paper. • The Net Junkie: This wanna-be spends hours checking out writing-related chat rooms, websites, and message boards. She's building a support network with other writers, sharing problems, sharing marketing information, moaning about rejections. But every minute spent typing words into chat rooms and message boards is a minute that she's not spending working on her novel. • The Idea Man: This wanna-be has files and files of paper--usually little bits of napkin or the back of little Davey's math homework--all recording snippets of vibrant, brilliant ideas. He may even keep a writing journal. He hasn't realized that jotting and filing and journalling aren't the same as developing those ideas into a cohesive, publishable whole. • The Support Person. This wanna-be belongs to at least one critique group and often more, both live and on-line. She's an old stand-by on the well-known message boards on-line and is always willing to give the "newbies" a hand. She's always ready to critique other people's work but more often than not chooses to skip her own turn to submit to critique group. Her manuscript just isn't quite ready. Misguided efforts are a trap for all of us, and too many people come perilously close to being snared. If you see yourself described here, you might think about your goals. Do you want to be a writer? Or do you just want to talk about it? If you answer "writer", you may want to reevaluate the time you spend in writing-related activities. Here are just a few suggestions to help you keep your perspective: • When you attend a conference, try to balance the time you spend in marketing sessions with sessions on craft. If professional critiques by conference faculty are available, look at the critique as an opportunity to get feedback on your writing, not as a chance to sell your book. • Granted, marketing know-how saves you time and postage by ensuring that you target your submissions. Plus, it can keep you from working for years on a 3500-word science fiction magazine story for six year olds--something there just isn't much market for. Just be sure to balance your marketing study with study of craft. All the marketing knowledge in the world won't get a poor manuscript published. • If how-to books inspire you, read a variety. Don't limit yourself to books about manuscript formatting or how to deal with editors. A book like Katherine Paterson's The Spying Heart doesn't provide marketing tips, but it may remind you of the reasons you wanted to write for children in the first place. • Remember that time spent on-line is time spent not writing. You can learn from more experienced writer friends in chat rooms, but think of this time as social time--the on-line version of going out for coffee. If you don't call it writing time, you may be more inclined to limit it. • Use the messages board you frequent as goal-setting aids. Try something like this: "Hey everybody! You won't see me again until I've finished the rough draft of Chapter 6 and brainstormed 30 minutes on the story idea I came up with last night. Wish me luck!" Then meet your goal. Treat your on-line time as a reward for your good effort. If you use your time wisely--to write, to refine your craft, to make your manuscripts the best they can be--your writing will improve. That's the number one key to becoming a published writer. Keep the rest in perspective. All the information on markets and query letters and how to deal with editors will still be there when you're ready--which isn't until your manuscript is ready. When it comes to becoming a published writer, you don't wanna be a wanna-be. You wanna be. And if you wanna be a writer, you've got to write. Period. This article was originally published on the Institute of Children’s Literature website. Copyright Anne Marie Pace.