Those of us who write would like to extend the day by about twelve hours so there’d be enough time to do everything we want, or have to, accomplish–and then write, too.

Sadly, I haven’t yet figured out how to do that, as I’m sure the rest of you have discovered too.

Which means that in order to become a successful writer, some sacrifices have to be made.

For a long time I thought I could do it all. Work, write, spend quality time with the hubby, work in the garden, ride the Harley, watch all my favorite television shows as well as the latest and greatest movies, visit online with my best friends, get the laundry done, cook, grocery shop, sleep eight hours a night and read all my favorite books. It took me awhile to figure out I simply couldn’t do it all—not if I wanted to get a book written (not to mention several books a year), not if I wanted to be a published author, not if I wanted to meet my deadlines—not if I wanted to make sure the books I did write were actually good books.

If you want to be an author—if you really want it bad, then you have to be prepared to make sacrifices. You have to give some things up. And you have to train those around you to make some sacrifices too. If they love and support your choice of career (and yes, people, this is a career), then they’ll sacrifice too. No one does this alone, trust me.

This great new television season I might catch one of the new shows. Other than that, nothing. I’m not watching anything during the week other than Grey’s Anatomy, Men in Trees and CSI. This is a huge drop from what I did last year. My movie watching has dropped significantly (mostly due to the fact that I tend to pass out in front of the television these days. Heh.) My online friends aren’t seeing much of me at night anymore, because I’m spending that time either writing or with my husband (who is very happy to see me). My garden looks like hell because I don’t have time to tend to it. I’m spending every available hour writing. Writing, writing and more writing. You see, I’m taking my career seriously. Plus I also work part time, so I’m juggling that responsibility too.

I’m making this work, and I’m making sacrifices. Writing is my career and I’m taking every moment I can to work hard at it.

Make the sacrifice. Ask those around you to help you if they can. People who love and support your career will do it. Cut out what isn’t essential in your life, fill it with the obligations that you must, and take the leftover time for your writing. Even if you only manage to carve out an additional hour or two a week, it’s worth it. Your career is worth the sacrifice.

I’d like to say I have these great writing organizational skills, and every day I wake up, grab my cup of coffee and sit down at my neatly cleaned desk to pound out the pages, completely uninterrupted.

Ha! It never works that way. The phone rings, I have to deal with emails, to-do lists, promotional tasks, things that pop up that have to be dealt with immediately, and sometimes those kinds of things can take up the entire day.

So how do I manage to write for multiple publishers, have nonstop deadlines and put out several books a year?

I hate to steal from Nike here, but I just do it. I know what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and I manage to get it done. Why? Because I want this.

This is the life I dreamed of. This is the career I always wanted. Now that I have it, I bust my butt to make sure I make my deadlines. And before I was published, I devoted as much time as I possibly could to write a book, edit it and then write another.

So if you want this, you have to work at it. And if that means 6 pages a day, 1500 words a day for 70 days to get a book done, then it’s worth it. It’s not that much if you break it down into small increments instead of looking at the big picture. Write a paragraph here and there throughout your day. Fit it in where you can. Sometimes I’ll do a page, other times I’ll pound out anywhere from 2 pages to an entire chapter in one sitting. It all depends on what else is going on, how many interruptions I have, and what kind of day I’m having. But if I set a goal, you can bet I’m going to achieve it.

I’ve set a goal to get this book done. I’m going to get it done. I love a challenge. It gets my blood fired up, and knowing other people are out there doing the same thing really spurs me on to write.

Don’t come up with all the reasons you can’t do it. Come up with just one reason you can. Don’t you really want this bad? I do. I always have.

So write. And don’t compare your progress to mine, or to anyone else’s. If you don’t do 6 pages a day, don’t worry. Maybe tomorrow you’ll do 10. Maybe you won’t. But if you make progress on your book each and every day, isn’t that what counts?