Following is a guest post from none other than Devon Ellington! She’s very successful and has a solid writing career. I know you’ll be inspired by her post and her success. Be sure to visit her blog, too. She tells it like it is and shares her real writing experiences. Can’t beat that!

NOTE: I’m working on upcoming posts and will focus on keeping fresh content coming (regularly). I have lots of news to share with you! Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe so you won’t miss any of my juicy updates. See that feed dolly over there? She was a gift from one of my readers! Ain’t she pretty? (More about her early next week!)

Without further ado, here’s Devon Ellington…

Don’t Lose the Joy!

By Devon Ellington

Writers who take the first steps on this path are always looking for the magic “something” that will make them published, well-sold, and well-received.  Writing full-time isn’t for cowards.  One needs an incredible amount of grit, stamina, and determination, in addition to all the creative and business aspects required to make this your business and your vocation as well as your passion.  There’s no one trick, no one magic anything, and everyone’s path is slightly different.

The caveats, however, include:

• Sit your butt in the chair and write. No excuses.  It doesn’t matter if you’re tired or your family interrupts you or you “don’t wanna”.  Write.

• Write every day or almost every day. Writing is like training for a marathon.  You build up stamina, you get into the flow, it gets easier if you do it every day.

• There will never “be” time. You have to “make” time.

• Writer’s block is a luxury only those who rely on another source of income can afford.

• Every project will cause you, at some point to ask yourself, “How badly do I want this?” Because every project will require you to say no to something else, whether it’s in your professional life or your personal life.  No one else can make that recurring decision.  Only you can.

Something that we often forget as we crack the whip on those who claim to want to join us on the writing path, or as we moan to each other about difficult clients or late-paying clients or whatever,  is Joy.  With the capital “J”.

Most of us got into this profession because we love to write. We love to feel pen moving across paper, or watch the words march across the screen.  We tell stories.  Even when we write for a business client, we’re creating a story to present the client’s product in the best and most fascinating light.  We bear witness, we seek justice, we figure out what makes human beings tick.  We’re fascinated by the world and by everyone and everything in it.

It’s hard to remember that on the days when you’re juggling multiple projects, Microsoft fails yet again, the toilet backs up, the cat pukes all over that brand new silk cocktail dress you planned to wear tonight, a client is six weeks late with payment, and all your own bills now carry late fees.

Yet, when things are at their worst, take a moment to remind yourself why you’re doing this.  What part of this process, even on the bad days, give you joy?

The worst days are the days it’s the most important to pull out your personal handwritten journal, or shoot off an email to vent to a friend, or kidnap your neighbor next door for an impromptu glass of wine in the middle of the afternoon.

One of the reasons we freelance is so we don’t get caught up in a typical nine-to-five lifestyle. I’m very disturbed at the number of people who’ve left the corporate grind for more freedom only to build a similar prison of their own design.

And another reason we freelance as writers is because we love what we do. So don’t forget the Joy.  And on the days when you feel like it’s buried at the bottom of the cat box, take the time to dig it back out.

You’ll be glad you did.

Devon Ellington publishes under a half a dozen names in both fiction and non-fiction, as well as supplying her business clients with outstanding writing.  She writes the Jain Lazarus Adventures, published by FireDrakes Weyr Publishing, and “The Literary Athlete” column for THE SCRUFFY DOG REVIEW.  Visit her writing blog, Ink in My Coffee:  http://devonellington.wordpress.com