Top Ten List for Writers

1. Patience. In abundance. Pressed down and overflowing. Everything takes time. And lots more time than you could imagine. So if you write, you'll shake the doors of heaven begging for patience.
2. What ifs. A writer takes a "what if" and crafts a story around it. Without a "what if" question, there would be no books, no inspiration.
3. Creativity. Must have the ability to take the germ of an idea and flesh it out into a 300 page book. Or a 1000 word article. Or a short blog post. But without creativity, most "what ifs" would die a quick death.
4. Support. If you're surrounded by people who don't accept or support your dream, it can be death to the dream. So find people who will encourage your writing dream -- even if they don't understand how certifiably crazy you must be to pursue it.
5. Fellowship. Find other writers. Only writers can fully understand the zaniness incumbent with writers. We just see everything a bit ... differently. So run to the American Christian Fiction Writers, and join. Then get invovled with the local group of writers.
6. Love for Written Words. You have to love to read well-written words and hunger to develop those skills yourself.
7. Disipline. To cut the things from your life to make room for writing.
8. BOC. A corollary is to ensure you have Bottom on Chair time. Yep. Sitting in your chair in front of your computer, fingers poised over the keyboard and hopefully clicking rhythmically. That's the only way anything is written. One word at a time. One second at a time.
9. Research Skills. You have to love tracking down the right answers. Research is equally important in contemporary books as it is in historicals. Nothing will pull a reader out of the story faster than knowing you missed a key fact or detail. So develop a love of new knowledge.
10. Ability to Let Go. Finally, you have to be able to release your baby to a cold, cruel world. Otherwise, it will languish in your desk drawer or computer drive. The answer may be no, but you will never get to a yes until you send the manuscript into the world.

Cara's first book Canteen Dreams releases from Heartsong Presents in October 2007. Her other babies are in various stages of completion and release to the world at large. She is the President of the Indiana chapter of ACFW, the ACFW national publicity officer, an attorney, mother, wife, ministry leader, and very tired! You cna check out her blog: The Law, Life & Books.