Guest Author - Terrie Lynn Bittner
Many LDS moms love to write. Years of writing talks and lesson plans, of telling stories to our children, and of reading uplifting literature has given us a love of sharing our values and imaginings. In addition, it’s something we can do at home, surrounded by our children. But where do we start, and more importantly, where do we find the time between callings, family, and work?
You can’t put something into your day until you take something out. So, the first step, is to remove something from your over-packed day. When I decided to become a freelance writer, instead of just writing for fun, I gave up television, sleep, and some housework. Nearly everyone has something that can be given up, either by removing a luxury event in your life, or by lowering your expectations in one area. While you don’t want to take time away from your family’s true needs, there may be things you’re doing for them that aren’t essential. For instance, the children can take on additional chores—you aren’t still doing their laundry and cleaning their rooms, are you? You might give up bed-making, or decide not to clean what doesn’t show quite as often. You can also get up early to get started, which is what I did. 4-6 AM was my personal time and no one was allowed to interrupt. If you want it badly enough, you’ll be okay with this, even if it means staggering to the computer each morning, almost wishing you drank coffee!
Once you’ve found the time, set a schedule and a goal. If you don’t write it down, you won’t get it done. You have to make writing as important as everything else you do if you want to succeed.
Next, pray. There are many different kinds of writing you can choose to do, but you need Heavenly Father’s permission to do it. When I started, I was determined to be a picture book writer. It turned out that this wasn’t what God had planned for me, and until I started doing things His way, I couldn’t sell a thing. While praying, make sure this is the time for you to become a writer. Just as my career was beginning to take off, God put me on an eight-year-sabbatical to focus on my family. When the children grew up, He put me back to work with a book contract.
Before you can get published, you’ll need to do some learning. There are many good books on writing to help you get started. Check the related links at the bottom of my site to read about one specifically for Latter-day Saints. In addition, you need t spend many hours reading the kinds of books you want to write. Choose recent materials, since styles change, and notice what you like and don’t like, how the material is paced, and what techniques they use to make their points. This is also a good time to review your grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
When it’s time to start selling, be professional. Find out what the publisher wants and follow instructions exactly. Your manuscript might be automatically rejected if you break any rules or get overly creative. That’s one reason for doing your research in advance.
It takes a long time to get published. Common wisdom is that you’ll first have to write a million well-edited words and gather enough rejections to wall-paper your office. (It doesn’t help to get a smaller office!) So don’t get your feelings hurt when the inevitable rejection letters come, impersonal and unhelpful. They’re all part of paying your dues and we all get them.
The most important thing for you to remember is that writing, for the Latter-day Saint, is part of our spiritual life. It’s also something we should have the Lord’s permission to do, since our families must always come first.
