Become An Author in One Hour a Day by Jeff Bailey

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You want to be a writer? Let me start you off with a simple challenge. Some years ago, I read an opinion ( I don’t recall the source) that if a person spent one hour a day studying any one subject or skill; in one year, he would be a world-class authority on that subject or skill. I thought at the time that the advice was too simple, too generalized. Now that I’m attempting to learn a new skill set, writing, I’m finding the recommendation is not so easy to follow. But, it seems (to me) to be true.

 I’m making the effort to spend an hour a day (most days, several hours), minimum, working on some segment of being a writer. I write. I edit. I proofread. I market and if all else fails, I blog. Most days, I have no difficulty. I enjoy the whole process. But, the letter of the law says, “Every Day.” It is hard to start work at ten at night after an all-day family reunion/n or a Super bowl winner’s celebration. I try to envision a student of classical piano going to his music room in the middle of the night and having the mental wherewithal to practice. So, an hour a day can sometimes be a formidable exercise.

Now, I’m going to throw one more rule into the mix. For every minute in the hour(s), one must do the single most productive item on their to-do list. Before I start each day, I review the list of twenty or thirty things that I want to accomplish that day and pick the one item that I would deem (honestly deem) the most important item to complete. I don't always want to do the hardest thing on the list. Let’s go back to the piano student. Do we suppose he will ever master anything if he sits and plunks middle ‘C’ with his right index finger for an hour? I look at each task and ask myself if I’m plunking middle ‘C’. I have one or two tasks on my to-do list that I rank right up there with plunking middle ‘C.’ I sincerely hope that neither one ever gets to be my single most important task.

So, try the plan. Pick any endeavor that interests you. Try to work for one hour a day, every day, at the single most important aspect of that task that you can find. It’s an interesting study in dedication to see how many days one can keep up with the regime. I can most assuredly promise that no one can complete the year. But, if you really want to be a writer, you should enjoy the challenge.

My name is Jeff Bailey. I write nuclear thrillers for a reason, I’ve worked in nuclear related industries, from nuclear weapons to nuclear research, for fifty years. Deer Hawk Publications released my first book, The Defect in June of 2016. In The Defect, I tell the story of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant and why the government covered it up. The Defect is based on true events. Deer Hawk Publications is scheduled to release I’m a Marine in May of 2017. I’m a Marine is about a female aviation firefighter in the U.S. Marines who witnesses the murder of two M.P.s. She decides that it is her duty to stop them. Keep in mind that I write nuclear thrillers. The Chilcoat Project, to be released in spring of 2018, is about the theft of nuclear weapons secrets from a national laboratory. The Chilcoat Project is also based on true events. My current project, Wine Country, is based on the true story of the Radioactive Boy Scout, but with a more sinister twist.

I based the story line for The Defect on my years of experience building, testing, starting up, and operating nuclear power plants for the U.S. Army, private utilities, and in research. I also derived elements of the story from the true events surrounding the meltdown of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Station in Pennsylvania and the assault by a hooded gunman on the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Station in Tennessee.