My seven-year-old granddaughter was the home-run hitter. Her blonde pony tail bounced up and down through the hole in the back of her pink helmet as she went up to bat. Centering her feet behind the rubber plate, she held her pink bat aloft, confident she would knock the ball off the t-ball stand.

It wasn't always that way, though. When Bailey first joined the team she was four-years-old, weighed about 30 lbs. and barely reached 3 feet tall. The smallest size jersey swam on her tiny frame. She loved running the bases, but she feared being up to bat; in the outfield she feared catching the ball. Overcoming her fear took hard work and, after three years, she was a seasoned pro, ready to move up to Little League.

Sitting on the sidelines for the two-hour games allowed me ample opportunity to observe my grandchild and her teammates. Eventually I began to notice striking similarities between t-ball players and writers.

Player A is the kid who's there because her parents thought it would be a good experience. You can easily pick her out from the pack. She is the one who stands awkwardly at the plate and half-heartedly swings the bat. If she connects with the ball, she walks to first base. In the outfield, she is the one picking dandelions, chasing butterflies or building castles in the sandy stretches between the bases. Her focus is not on the game because she is busy counting swooping gulls while wearing her t-ball glove on her head.

In the literary field we find Writer A who has been told, "You should write a book!" Writer A dreams of going on a book tour, chatting it up with Oprah, and appearing on the Today Show. She imagines what outfit to wear to her book-signing at Barnes and Noble. She practices her autograph. With the profits from her novel she will buy a little cottage by the sea. However, Writer A never gets past the daydream. To actually sit down and pull words out of her head takes work, and she has no intention of getting that involved in the process.

Player B shows up at the field because her friends signed up to play. She loves hanging out with classmates. She loves to talk. She loves to go to the snack shack for ice cream afterwards.

Likewise, Writer B enjoys talking - about writing. If there's a famous author in town, she is first in line to get an autograph; she generously shares an idea she has for a terrific poem/article/story/novel/script. Her computer is equipped with high-speed internet for fast research, but she never gets around to producing a manuscript because she is too busy IM'ing her chat room friends.

Then there is Player C - the one who puts her heart and soul into the game. There are twins on my granddaughter's team who play like there is no tomorrow. Arriving early for each game, they throw their tiny 3'4", 40-pound bodies into the game - hitting, diving for balls, hustling to make plays. They would be a two-man team if Coach didn't rein them in.

"Make eye contact with your teammate. Man your post. Let someone closer make the play," Coach instructs them.

They push themselves, shake off errors and return to play stronger for having learned what not to do. If they stick with it, in the years to come these players will be top picks for college teams.

Their t-ball counterpart is Writer C - the working professional who writes amid distractions; the writer who carves out, and holds sacred, writing time. Writer C invests money in magazines, books, conferences and workshops in order to learn the craft. This writer isn't afraid of rejections or revisions. She dares to try new ideas and new markets. Always learning, always improving, always performing to her best of her ability, while striving to push past barriers, Writer C writes during the lean times as well as the lush. With persistence, this writer has a good chance of making the major leagues someday with a contract from a big-name publishing house.

To understand what category you fall in, take an honest look at your writing habits. Have you been spending your time at the snack shack? Sitting on the sidelines? Or on the field playing like a pro?

If you want to make it in the big leagues - with a major league publisher calling you with a contract - you need to get off the bench, get up to bat and take a confident swing. You just may hit a homerun.