What next? Of course, other series came along like The Bobbsey Twins which appeared in 1904 and Tom Swift in 1910; The Hardy Boys in 1927 and Nancy Drew in 1930. The latter two series survive till this day. Stratemeyer died in 1930. He left his publishing business to his two daughters of which one took up business and began more series after model of her father.

One of little known pseudonyms of Stratemeyer Syndicate was Chester K. Steele. This pseudonym was used for a series of mystery books aimed at an older audience. The first book was The Mansion of Mystery and was written by Stratemeyer himself while others in series were all ghostwritten.

One of these books is The Golf Course Mystery (1919) is among six of these mysteries. This novel in Public Domain and you can read it at Vintage Literature (http://www.vintageliterature.com).

Join a writers group or start one yourself. This will force you to write and to adhere to deadlines and witness other people meeting deadlines and achieving goals. It is positive peer pressure at its finest.

Take writing courses and seminars. If you can afford it, sign up for that class or seminar you’ve been longing to take. Better yet, sign up for something that scares you to death, something you feel completely unqualified to take. You will experience most growth from this class. Too expensive? There are lots of inexpensive, and even free, writing resources on web, including my website http://www.lawritersgroup.com which is a free online writers group open to writers of all levels.

Write every day. I know you’ve heard this so many times, it feels like a bad cliché, and makes you want to throw your computer out window, but if you are dedicated to process of writing, you should do it daily. Accept that your life will be a cliché and move forward.

Start living like a writer: Set Goals. Make deadlines for yourself: “I’ll have 30 pages done by a month from today”. Make every effort to meet that deadline. Deadlines, like them or not, are part of literary occupation. Accept it now, and start living that way, start living like a writer.

Read. Reading in your genre is essential for any writer. Reading about writing and publishing and about story arcs is also helpful. For a list of recently published books for writers, go to http://www.lawritersgroup.com/Books.htm

Now go forth and write with dedication.