A Guest Post by a Powerhouse of Craft - Jennifer Blanchard

(This is Art: I'm delighted to bring you a guest post by Jen Blanchard, who everyday offers great advice and powerful motivation to her regulars and is here to do the same for you. She makes a wonderful offer to you at the end of the post - take advantage of it!)

Are You Thinking With A Pro Writer Mindset?

by Jennifer Blanchard

Actor and comedian, Jim Carrey once wrote himself a check for $10 million. He was living out of his car on the streets of Hollywood, dreaming the big dream and one day he got the idea to write a check to himself for the amount of money he wanted to be making from being an actor.

A few years later, he made $10 million for the movie, Dumb and Dumber.

This happened because he had the courage to believe and the pro mindset to back it up. Because a pro knows that hard times are temporary. A pro knows that you have to invest in yourself, even when you have nothing, and do whatever it takes, even when it’s easier to give up or quit.

Are you thinking like a pro?

That was a question I asked myself a few months ago when I started working with a mentor who has 47 published eBooks. Forty-six of which were Best Sellers on Amazon. And that inspired the hell out of me.

But when I looked at where I was at with my writing—five published books, including one novel—I felt like an underachiever. And that’s so not me. I’ve been an insanely productive, high-achiever my whole life.

Yet ever since I started my blog back in 2008, I felt like my writing life was moving in slow motion. I was getting stuff out there, but at a snail’s pace.

And when I met my mentor, it really hit me: I’m a pro, but I’ve been acting like an amateur.

I could’ve been writing and publishing multiple books a year, getting all of my ideas and stories out into the world. But instead I’d been playing small and not working at my true capacity.

I’d been slacking, procrastinating, not doing the work. And when faced with it, there was only one thing I could do.

So every day I started asking myself this one question: what would a pro writer do?

And then I let the answer inspire the actions I take during the day. I let it inspire how I think about my writing.

Today, only a few months later, I now have seven published eBooks—one of which hit #1 in multiple categories on Amazon—with several more in the works for this year. I’ve felt the calling for years, to step up and be the author I’ve dreamed of being, and I finally answered it.

When it comes to being a pro writer—aka: someone who makes money from their writing—it really all comes down to a few key things:

1. Thinking Like A Pro

A pro wouldn't skip his writing session. A pro would show up to the page even when she does’t feel like it. A pro doesn’t wait for inspiration.

And when you think like a pro, it changes everything.

No more excuses, no more letting life get in the way. You’re a pro, so you sit down and you get your writing done. Every day. No matter what.

Anytime you’re tempted to skip out or not do your writing, just ask yourself the big question: what would a pro do? And then do whatever your response is.

2. Acting From the Place of Already Having What You Want

This is a whole new way of looking at achieving your writing dreams, but it’s super powerful. When you act from a place of your writing dream already coming true, it makes you a whole lot more motivated to show up every day and do the work.

Jim Carrey was acting from the place of already having the entertainment career he dreamed of having, that’s why he wrote himself the $10 million check.

Yes, you can “pretend” your way into creating whatever it is you want for your writing life. But you can’t just pretend and make it happen. You have to pretend and also do the work required.

But you can use the mindset of thinking from and acting from the place of your dream already coming true, to help you achieve results faster. All you have to do is figure out how you’d act if you were already the writer and author you dream of being, and then instead of waiting, act that way now.

Most writers think they have to wait—’til they have the bestselling book, ’til they’ve achieved the success they dream of—before they can be the writer and author they dream of being. But the opposite is actually true.

You have to be the writer you dream of being now, and when you act from that place, your dream writing life has no other choice but to show up.

3. Being Intentional

Things really started to change in my writing life when I started being more intentional about what I was doing. Rather than just writing to write, I set specific deadline and short-term goals (and I admit, sometimes I set totally insane goals too).

That’s what pro writers do. They work on deadline, either set by an agent/editor/publisher or self-set. But pro writers have specific, timed goals they want to achieve.

This kind of intention is what writing careers are made of. If you’re not currently being intentional about your writing, it’s time to step up.

Pick a project, set a deadline and make it happen.

If you want to learn more about creating a pro writer mindset, be sure to check out my new eBook—The Pro Writer Mindset: What It Really Takes to Be A Bestselling Author, available now on Amazon.

What can you do right now, today, to step up and start thinking like a pro writer?

About the Author: Jennifer Blanchard is a best selling author, award-winning blogger, and success mindset coach for emerging novelists who want to create their dream writing lives. Grab her free inspirational one-page PDF: What It Really Takes to Be A Pro Writer, here.