I spent five hours in the library yesterday writing my butt off. It’s really not a lot of time when you think about it. I used to devote 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week to a regular job that benefited my employers more than it did me. For all the “self-employed” writers, you ought to be writing grind style. Forty hours a week is a minimum. Getting your name out there, enhancing your brand, and, most importantly, getting paid, requires you to be ON IT all the time. If you can’t write on the same thing for 8 hours, that’s cool. Write about anything. I chose to tackle a fellowship application today that required me to write multiple essays in addition to pulling together some interview questions for a few upcoming Zora&Alice articles. Now, I’m here, writing to you about nothing really that important, but again another way for me to engage and enhance my skill. I plan to go see Inception tomorrow, but I must get some writing in first (or after). If writing is only a hobby, then your talent will be treated like one.

Here are some great writers that keep me inspired. Hope they help all my writing buddies too!

Gary Vaynerchuk’s “Do What You Love” Talk is a MUST, MUST, MUST watch for EVERY writer

Paulo Coelho’s Blog (if you don’t worship this man as a writer, I’m not sure how successful you’re going to be)

Seth Godin’s Blog (Seth Godin is a marketing guru, but I loved this particular post about book writing)

Advice to Writers website (great for quotes and inspiration…follow them on Twitter for more frequent updates)

Photo Credit: Read Magazine