Writing Fiction From Scratch

A lot of people dream of being published authors.

Some of us want to be the next JK Rowling, Wally Lamb, Stephen King or <insert your favorite author here>.

Some of us want to write because it's our passion and we have stories we want to share with the world.

And that's great. Wonderful. Amazing and fantastic, even. (Even for those of us, like me, who are in it for the money.)

The million dollar question is, what have you done today to make that dream happen?

Did you read a good book?

Spend an hour searching AgentQuery.com for potential representation?

Browse your favorite online writers forum?

Did you catch up on the dozens of blogs by other writers, publishers and agents that you find inspiring?

Find a few new blogs to read?

Take a walk?

Listen to music?

Browse through photos or newspaper headlines looking for inspiration?

Did you exchange emails with a writing partner or that friend who's always cheering you on?

Tweet a few dozen times about how hard it is to get published/quotes by famous authors/the link to the latest bad/good news in the publishing world?

Browse Facebook searching for new writers to connect with?

Look for how-to articles on writing?

Did you write?

There is nothing wrong with searching for inspiration or researching new markets. Networking with other writers and learning your craft is rarely a bad idea. BUT. Nothing will make you a better writer more than writing. And I mean nothing.

Writing fiction from scratch is hard.

It takes work.

Not surfing the web looking for yet another article debating the pros and cons of First Person vs. Third Person.

It takes work.

Not meandering around Facebook looking for more writers to friend.

It takes work.

That means sitting down every day and writing something. Even if it's one sentence. Even if you know it sucks. Even if it takes an hour to get one paragraph finished. Sit down and write. Because nothing will help your chances for success more than actually writing.

So, what have you written today?