One-two, one-two, one-two... Tripping to the left... Getting back on track... Veering to the right.
One-two, one-two...

Be careful what you ask for, they always say. Look out, here it comes!

Ever find yourself wishing you could do something more: write for your chapter newsletter or your favorite line; sell a series or take part in a continuity; release your first single title; break out into mainstream? It's clear what will move your writing forward, and you're ready to take the leap. So you buckle down, pull together the necessary proposals, and polish everything until it shines and the time is right to submit the work. Then there's nothing left to do but wait for your chance to sit at the big girl's table, right? Only when your chance arrives, there's much more than sitting involved, and that's when you can find yourself doing the two-step.

Once your dream morphs into reality, you're off and running. If you are truly stretching yourself, your trusty writing schedule is the first thing to go--your workday must now accommodate deadlines over and above anything you've handled so far. And without careful planning in advance, you may find yourself stumbling all over the place, wondering why your new career move suddenly seems like less than a good idea.

This stage of success-induced writer's psychosis is similar to what new parents face when they return from the hospital with their precious newborn. Their dream-family-come-true is a daily blessing, except that it comes complete with a whirlwind of work they had no idea they'd be facing. Family and friends may have tried to explain the changes to come, but somehow nothing quite prepares new parents for the full frontal reality of it all. And it's not a bit unusual at some point for parents to fear they're losing their minds, because there's never enough time to get everything done.

And so it often goes with a writer who is in the infancy of a new professional opportunity. You're truly blessed when you reach a career milestone, but there is very real work involved in putting the dream into action. To make the most of a new opportunity, you have to press harder. Squeeze even more time out of your day. Maybe sacrifice resources already committed to existing projects. You're suddenly marching double-time, two-stepping, when the slower rhythm of the waltz is more your speed. Before you realize it, you might find yourself no longer able to finishing anything. You're behind schedule, maybe even in danger of missing deadlines, which you've never done before. What were you thinking, spending so much time and energy fighting for this? You're going under, all because you had the lame idea that you were ready! And that, I've found, is the secret to the two-step. Being ready.

No matter how talented you are, a new creative opportunity is rarely an easy, effortless step up. Of course you can do it, but do you have the time? Do you have the energy? Can you pull it off and still be standing at the end? Ask any professional dancer the key to her craft. You'll learn that while many people posses the talent, it's the ones with the stamina to fight through the dance and make it look effortless to the very end who wind up with the careers. And whether or not you succeed when your chance arrives, when the dance is on, is all about preparation. How much work have you put into being ready for your next big break?

How many hours do you devote to preparing for your writing future? When you're feeling less than challenged, do you sit back and relax, or do you find a way to put your skills to the test? Do you hold yourself to tighter deadlines, just to see if you can meet them? Are you fighting to get the proposals and chapters out faster, expecting higher quality with each new effort? Are grammar mistakes or typos your weakness? What are you doing to weed them out of your drafts, so you won't have to do the rework when one day soon you no longer have the time? Are you looking to, talking to, other authors who are already doing what you've set your sights on? Have you thought ahead and figured out how you're going to handle the schedules they're juggling? In short, how do you plan to adjust your current routine to make room for the success that you're chasing?

Our dreams are the very essence of who we will become as writers. But our preparation while we wait for our turn to dance says a lot about the genuineness of our commitment to succeed. The more we dream the better, as long as we're working just as hard as we are dreaming.

You have to master the art of the two-step, my friends, before the next dream comes true. That way, when it's time for you to shine, you'll be ready to dance all night!

***************** Anna DeStefano's first Harlequin Superromance will be an October of 2004 release. She's a 2003 Golden Heart winner and a proud owner of an unpublished Maggie. The ins and outs of writers' lives fascinate her, so check back later in the year to see what she's chosen to obsess about next.