2. Make a committed decision to write. How to do it, and if you can do it, are not to be considered now. Would you attempt to write if you knew for certain you couldn’t fail? Since failure is often defined as “not trying,” then trying equals success. I’ve discovered that carrying out a commitment is often easier than making one. You’ve made a real decision about a goal if, and only if, you find yourself doing something about it.

3. Make a committed decision to write with which you can be flexible. Once you’ve decided to write your book, don’t get stuck on means to achieve it. You are going after finished product. For example, most people think you can just write a book straight through. However, there may be greater value in planning out your book before you write your first word. Circumstances change and you must be able to change with them.

Most new writers and seasoned ones as well, don’t write as much as they can on a daily basis. Even writing part-time, two pages per day is a good start, and more can easily be done if effort is put forth. Spend next 90 days writing at least one page per day. This will get you out of your comfort zone, out of limits you have placed on yourself and out of what you have convinced your brain that you can and cannot do. As you become more and more accustomed to writing and working towards your goal, you will probably discover that you didn’t set a high enough quota of pages.

These people have entered and then sent us an extra email just to thank us for opportunity. They’ve told us how just writing about project has made them so excited and full of joy. They have enthusiasm and feel delight just for thinking about finally writing. And we’ve started reading entries and joy is there too. As a publisher, I’m used to reading submissions and contest entries. It’s often a joy but there’s rarely as much life as there is in these submissions. Reading them, I can feel that people have that spark of excitement that is only motivated by something much greater than money or even publication. It’s joy of doing what your heart’s always wanted to do.

There is more to writing than publication and money and this competition is bringing out real spirit of writing.

My message to all writers is to think about what matters to them. Think about that one thing you’ve always dreamed of writing. I challenge you to write down what completing that project would mean to you. If you feel that spark, I challenge you to commit to your project and get it written. Not because you can make money from it, but because it means something to you.

This contest has made me see more clearly than ever that there is far more to writing than making money. There will only be a few winners to Blogfest, and choosing them is going to be toughest job we do all year. But I hope this idea can reach further than that. I hope all writers will listen to their hearts and complete their projects. I hope that just thinking about actually doing it will wake up that writing spirit that is in so many people.