K.D. McCrite grew up on an Ozark Mountain farm along an old dirt road, just like April Grace Reilly in In Front of God and Everybody. She loves writing stories that make people laugh and think. For a while, she worked as a librarian, but these days she sits at her desk and makes up stories. Her second book to this series, Cliques, Hicks, and Ugly Sticks, released in December 2011. The third book in the series will be released in the fall of 2012. Visit her at http://kdmccrite.com/

I heard you want to be a writer. Yes, you. Don’t look so surprised. You weren’t seriously trying to keep it a secret, were you?

How did I know that this is what you want to do? Because about 98 percent of the people I meet say they want to be a writer. They usually add “One of these days when I get around to it” or “Someday, when I’m not so busy” or “When I’m out of school” or “When the kids are grown” or “When I retire” or “When I learn to use a keyboard” or “When I have a place to write.” In fact, I’ve heard so many excuses, it would take too much space to list them all. But if you really want to be a writer, you will write, and no excuse will stop you.

If you’re still in school and you’ve written a story, ask your teacher to read it. Ask her what you can do to make it better. Don’t get your feelings hurt if she says it isn’t perfect. You have lots of years ahead of you to make your writing better and better. If you start writing now, by the time you’re old enough to make a career of it, you’ll be leaps and bounds ahead of others who’ve waited (for whatever reason) to begin writing.

If you’re a young parent, time is at a premium. Those sweet little children take a lot of attention and we cannot neglect them. When I first started writing, my younger daughter was two years old. She either stood beside me or sat on my lap while I wrote. My older daughter sat across the kitchen table (I had no desk or writing space) from me, with her crayons doing her own writing. My mother, God bless her, fussed at me. She told me I should wait until the kids were grown before I wrote books. The urge within me to write was too strong to wait eighteen years, so I forged ahead with my goals. I knew writing was my calling in life. My girls did not suffer; I continued to be a good mother.

If you work full time, you probably come home tired, even exhausted. All you want to do is eat a quick meal and relax awhile before going to bed. If you have family, you have even more responsibility when you get home. It’s tough, trying to write while juggling job and family duties. But it can be done—if you want it badly enough. When I worked from nine to five for someone else, I took a notebook with me, and I wrote during my breaks and lunch hour. I kept the notebook nearby and if we had any downtime at work, I pulled my notebook out and wrote. Often, I got up at 5 a.m. to write before going to work.

Why are you waiting to learn how to keyboard (type)? It’s not difficult; an evening class at your local community college could help. Or you can get a book at the library and teach yourself. If

you shoot down these ideas, then do what a lot of people do: hunt and peck. The more you do it, the more you familiar you are with letter placement, and the quicker you’ll write.

You say you’re too old to start writing? There’s no age limit. That’s a nonsense excuse.

You don’t have a special place to write? Then sit on your sofa or at your kitchen table or on the floor, or go to the library or McDonald’s or the park. You can even write while sitting in your car.

There is a popular saying: The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse.

God is the great Creator. We’re made in His image, so it’s only natural that we have the urge to create. If you harbor a strong urge to write, perhaps that is God calling you. Honor Him by leaving excuses behind.

Whatever your goal is in life, whether it’s writing, parenting, digging ditches, or building kites, don’t let excuses stop you. You might be saying no to God.