How many conferences or workshops have you attended this year? Getting in touch with other writers, editors, or publishing professionals can give you a better sense of your own goals, directions and market niches. At a national or international conference you can see major developments in the industry and acquaint yourself with the newest developing resources and ideas shaping the landscape. Of course a portion of your expense for these meetings and your travel and accommodations should be at least partially deductible on your income taxes. The government is thereby actually encouraging you to develop your professional connections and resources. How can you turn that down? Check out the many possibilities and select several that will give you the best return on your investment of time and money. Sign up and go! You owe it to yourself.

 

Keep writing.

When writing a book, you may feel the need to do as much research as possible in order to gain the best insight into and understanding of your topic. Of course researching and familiarizing yourself with the details of your subject is important, but you also can stall your project by trying to get more information than you actually need in order to move ahead with your writing. There really is such a thing as "too much information." Many books have not been completed because of it.

 

You have to draw a boundary when you run the risk of doing more research than is actually necessary. How do you know how much is necessary? Are you using research as a way to avoid your writing? Ask youself some challenging questions about that.

 

Begin your writing. As you come upon areas and issues that invite reconsideration of your understanding, stop and do some additional research at that point. Don't get bogged down in too much information before you really need it.

 

Keep writing!

Build a practice of asking questions. Explore the processes and realities of others as well as your own interests and insights. Keeping a journal or log of the questions you have asked yourself or/and others during a day gives you a resource and perhaps provides impetus for future projects which interest and intrigue you and invite further investigation. Once you have a good collection of questions built up, you can come back at a later time and sift through your earlier questions and responses and use that as a "jumping off" point for more detailed study. Be an inquiring mind. Ask questions. What do you want to know?

 

Keep writing.