1. The idea you start with isn’t always the story that unfolds.
2. Sometimes the best parts of your stories are the parts you never planned.
3. No one starts out writing “good” content. It’s a process.
4. Working your way up to becoming a full-time writer can take months, if not years. It doesn’t happen instantly.
5. You’re going to spend a lot of your time writing things no one else will ever see. That’s normal.
6. Some days you’ll hate it and want to quit.
7. But you’ll always find your way back to writing even after you’ve convinced yourself it will never happen.
8. Things won’t always go the way you imagined. You might want to publish a novel, but the universe could have plans to use your writing skills in a completely different (but still worthwhile) way.
9. You’ll have to do a lot of writing when you don’t “feel” like it. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just work.
10. You won’t fall in love with writing just once. It will happen over and over again, and it will feel a little different every time.
11. There is no such thing as “wasted” writing time. If you’re writing, it counts.
12. Even if things don’t go exactly the way you planned, one day when you look back on all you’ve accomplished in your writing life, you won’t regret a single thing.
Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is an editor and writer, and a 12-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food, and Star Wars.
Meg Dowell Writes 
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