“You have to get your feet square and balanced and pointed toward the goal before you take your shot,” explained Coach Rick Torbett. Coach Torbett was talking to basketball players, but I heard his comment and realized the wisdom and application for writers like you and me.
Some basketball players are over-eager to shoot for the net. They toss the ball away before they have lined-up properly and staged the best shot with the greatest possibility for success. Players who score a higher percentage of their shots have renounced the energy-draining, random, ineffective, shotgun approach to basketball. The mentality of shoot-the-ball-all-the-time-and-you’re-sure-to-get-some-of-them-in suits kids playing little league, but it’s not appropriate for someone who wants to play with the big boys.
As a writer, I want to write with the big boys. This means, I need to take time to get my feet square. I have to hone my craft. I need to internalize the mechanics of good writing. When the rules are ingrained, I can jump shoot, layup, or even run a literary Alley-oop, but I need my feet firmly planted on solid grammar first. This takes sweat, blood, and occasionally tears. The pro ranks aren’t for the faint of heart.
Before I take the shot, I need balance between writing what I enjoy and writing what will sell. I have to conduct some market research. Sure, I’m excited about what I’ve written. Of course, it’s pure genius—I wrote it! But hey, no matter how jazzed I may be about what I’ve written or the great idea that came to me at 2:00 a.m. last night, if there’s not a market for that topic, it won’t sell. Do I really want to spend a lot of Red Bull time, research hours, and agony finding just the right turn of phrase on a project that’s overwritten or overly specialized?
This writer’s goal is getting published. For some writers, it’s enough to fill pages of a personal journal, create a family record, and stack terraquads of digital files in computer memory banks. But if you’re a writer like me, then the goal is publication, and we have to line up with that goal before taking the shot.
Yes, there are those who spit rapid-fire, pot-shots at every agent and editor in the industry, but I said earlier that I want to write with the big boys. I want my shots to be the best they can be: carefully crafted for a specific editor targeting a particular audience. When I release my binary file to the goal, I want to hear: score—perfect shot!
What are your writing goals? What else do you need to do before you take your shot?
p.s. Photo by j9sk9s
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No doubt your husband inspired the theme. I shall return here when feeling faint of heart . . .