The important goal for a writer is to actually sit down to write new material at a regular pace. If you don’t take your commitment to write seriously, you won’t get serious results. If you don’t treat your writing as a career, you are, in essence, supporting a hobby.

A writing career is a job. Treat it as such. If you want a part-time job, schedule part-time hours for writing on your weekly calendar. A part-time job means you probably won’t be writing every day. If you want a full-time job, however, actually mark down forty hours each week on your calendar dedicated to writing. This means you’ll probably be writing eight hours a day, five days a week. Post your upcoming schedule each week, just as employers do in the workplace. Rearrange your other commitments around your writing schedule, just as people do who drive to work. Show up at your writing workspace on time each day according to schedule. Sit down at your computer. And write.

The life of a writer today is vastly different than the life of a writer in yesteryears. Stories abound of writers from long ago who retired each day to a solitary spot, curled up in a blanket with a pot of coffee nearby, and wrote uninterrupted from sunup to sundown.

Today’s writers have editors’ e-mails to answer, blogs to maintain or read, and writers’ chatrooms to visit. Even though these tasks are part of our writer’s day, they must not take the place of writing new material at a regular pace.

If you find yourself spending time each day in front of your computer but not actually typing new pages of publishable material, it’s time to reassess your priorities. Prioritize the hours you type new content each day before you tend to the other tasks.

It’s also important to write with purpose. A writer’s goal is to get published regularly and earn a steady income. Develop a cycle of studying target publishers and writing queries for potential contracts until you land that next manuscript assignment. Don’t spend all your time just submitting old manuscripts, however. In the extremely competitive world of children’s publishing today, randomly submitting even a well-written manuscript is like trying to win the lottery. Career writers know most manuscripts that reach publication are written AFTER the contract is landed or the assignment is given. Whether writing fiction or nonfiction, make it your goal to type out a brand new query each week or so for a new potential project not yet written. If an editor responds and is interested in your query, you can then prepare a formal proposal to submit.

Perhaps you already have a contract with a scheduled deadline. Is it important that you write and work on that manuscript every single day? Explore your project until you discover the schedule you need to work at to best complete your task. Print out a weekly or monthly calendar to follow until you reach your deadline. Type out a sample page or chapter to determine a realistic measure of the amount of time it will take you to physically sit down and type your manuscript.

Perhaps you can devote the first four weeks to research, creating outlines, and organizing material, then spend the last two weeks typing. Or, you may feel more confident breaking up those tasks into smaller bites so you see actual progress each day with a steady progression of completed manuscript pages. While working on a recent nonfiction book project for kids, I developed a cycle of daily research, note-taking, and writing that gave me confidence to work toward my deadline.

For each deadline, take time to discover a schedule that works best for you. Whether it’s actually sitting down to type new material each day, or blocking out chunks of time to type after your preliminary writing activities are finished, stick to a schedule that will help you accomplish your goals.

Bio: Nancy I. Sanders is an instructor for the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club and the author of over 75 books including Anyone Can Get Published—You Can, Too! A Practical Strategy for the Christian Who Writes. Visit her website www.nancyisanders.com to find out more.

Learn the Tricks of the Trade for Children’s Writing!

As a beginning children’s writer, I needed to know the tricks of the trade of writing for children and write in a way that would make my manuscript more marketable. After participating in Suzanne Lieurance’s summer writing bootcamp in 2008, I figured the next best step was joining the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club since I l’ve always wanted to write for children. The weekly professional manuscript critiques and teleclasses provided tools of successful writing I needed to armor myself in the children’s publishing marketplace.

As a direct result of Suzanne’s guided coaching and expertise, I was able to submit my FIRST picture book manuscript and magazine stories, and non-fiction articles. Several of these articles and short stories have been accepted by Guardian Angel for Kids Online Ezine and Stories for Children. I’ve also submitted a professional resource book for teachers to Scholastic, which I coauthored during the Build Your Business Write Author Program in the summer of 2009. I have a few other children’s manuscripts that I am preparing right now for submission. Without Suzanne’s wonderful coaching skills, I don’t think I would have the confidence and knowledge to continue submitting on a regular basis.

I have a blogsite, The New Teacher Resource Center for teachers that includes articles on how to write for children as well as many teaching tips for general education and ESL classroom teachers which I started when I was in Suzanne Lieurance’s Build Your Business Write program. Now, the New Teacher Resource Center is a global platform providing online support to teachers worldwide. Every week, I receive countless emails from editors and teachers who have shared my resources and weekly ezine (http://www.newteachersignup.com) with their colleagues. I have also been interviewed by other teachers and organizations and have recently presented at several teaching conferences – all due to launching this blogsite. Applying the knowledge of how to create a weekly marketing plan has also boosted my freelance business. Today, I start training for a position on correlating academic standards to educational books and materials. I continue to submit articles, queries and freelance packets for work for hire assignments weekly. All of this wouldn’t have been possible without learning the secrets of success on how to prepare a weekly marketing plan which beginning children’s writers also need for their success.

The Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club is a great place for all writers to learn the tricks of the trade on how they can submit more marketable manuscripts. Writing is tough work and it’s comforting to know that we can cheer and support each other in our writing endeavors. Being an active member in the children’s writing coaching club has truly made a difference in the way I view my profession as a children’s writer and has opened more doors to writing and publishing than I ever thought imaginable. We provide support and encouragement. Suzanne is a wonderful facilitator. This creates a feeling of team spirit that is unlike any other I’ve seen on the web.