What if I said to you that I can guarantee that you'll be published? Or, if you're already published, that I can guarantee that you'll sell as much of your writing as you want to sell?

I can and I do promise you that. If you do one thing, just one, and do it consistently, you won't ever need to worry about people paying you to write.

Here it is ---- SHOW UP.

Yep, that's all there is to it. Commit to SHOWING UP.

=> Get your work out there

Most writers just don't show up. Woody Allen once said that 80 per cent of success was in just showing up, but I'm inclined to think it's more like 95 per cent.

I've lost count of the number of editors who've told me that two out of three writers just don't do what they say they'll do. We're talking both professionals and aspiring writers. If you show up, editors will work with you. If you don't, they can't. Editors want to help you to write for them, they have publications they need to fill.

Many writers get into a rut where they send out magazine proposals consistently. They know how to write article proposals, but then panic when asked to write the complete article. They sign a contract, but then don't deliver on it.

My Prentice Hall book editor said to me: "You're my favourite writer. You do what you say you'll do." A women's magazine editor said to me: "If you send me a query, I know you'll send me the contracted article. Many writers don't bother."

Editors get frustrated. Is it any wonder that they take a dim view of freelancers?

=> Just write

Kill your internal editor, that yammering voice in your head that has a thousand and one comments on your work, and they're all bad.

How do you do this? The only way is to get so interested in what you're writing that you forget the editor.

Relax. Give yourself permission to write. Write a lot, much more than you need. Don't send the extra words to your editor, however. Cut your copy to the correct word length. If you give yourself permission to write a lot the act of writing will help you to discover what you want to say.

So for an article of 1000 words, write 2000, or even 3000, however many words it takes you to loosen up. And don't take forever over it, either. Set a timer. Work out how long it takes you to write 250 words, and then force yourself to write that number of words in that amount of time. I can usually write 1000 words an hour, so if I'm feeling tense for any reason, I force myself to write faster. I don't take any notice of aw

If you force yourself --- and you'll only need to force for a few minutes until you get interested in what you're doing --- you'll relax enough to write easily, and you'll enjoy the writing process.

=> Make a commitment: it's only a draft

Most of your writing will go through several drafts.

Who cares how crappy the first draft is? No one will read that draft except you. Relax. Write whatever you want to write, and ignore your internal editor.

You'll find that you're a poor judge of the quality of your writing while you're writing. You'll be amazed when you come back to read a draft that it's much better than you thought it was.

=> Treat your creative work like a business

All businesses have processes and procedures for their work. You need them too. Work out a process for whatever kind of writing you're doing.

Formalize it, by creating a checklist for it.

For example, to write a magazine article, your checklist may look something like this:

1. Get idea;

2. Pre-write, so I can discover what I think;

3. Write a draft of the article proposal;

4. Send proposal to editor;

5. If no response in two weeks, send to next editor on list. Make any adjustments needed;

6. Sign contract for the article;

7. Write draft of article immediately on signing;

Etc, etc.

Showing up depends on you. Please show up. Your successful writing career depends on it.