There are five critical things that all successful writers know. They are as follows:
1. They know they must always write
2. They know that their works may be rejected
3. They know that they must go beyond rejections to become successful
4. They know that the must begin to target their writing
5. They know that they must patiently wait for their success
These may be simple concepts but they are extremely powerful. Many people fail to obtain their goals because they stop writing. The ability for them to be able to endure has been exhausted and they just quit. I will never forget one very good blog writer who left a farewell message on his site. I’ve been doing this for a year and have not gotten any results so I will be closing my doors and moving on. I remember all of the letters of encouragement he got, telling him how good of a writer he was and that he would be missed. I thought what if he had just continued - perhaps one of those hundreds of people that responded could have been the next link to his writing career. He quit because a year exhausted him. I wonder where would we all be if Thomas Edison had quit. He certainly had enough reason to. But he concluded that success was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. If you are to succeed you must always write. It does not matter if it is one sentence a day, a journal, a diary, a blog, an article or whatever but you must write. When you get those days of being discourage you must still write.
Perhaps the man that quit should have reevaluated his situation, or repackaged his concept, this might have kept him going just a little more. Sometime it is not what you write but how it is written that makes all the difference in your level of success. Therefore you must continue to write, and at the same time always look for the most effective way to present your message. Being in pursuit of this will keep you writing.
A successful writer knows that rejection is part of the process. How you handle rejection will determine how successful you become. There are at least 5 main reasons why editors reject a writers work. Finding solutions to those areas will help you to get through the rejection phase. For example one reason why editors reject writing is because it does not meet their long term goals for a project. When you submit a query, a manuscript, a short story, poem, etc. have you researched the company or do you just assume that since you are a good writer they are going to want your work? You may be an excellent writer, but if you are a poor researcher when it comes to knowing the publishers long term goals you will more than likely be rejected.
A successful writer knows how to go beyond rejections in order to find success. Where do you go after rejection, to the tissue box to cry, to the I don’t know why this is happening to me saga, to the I can’t believe they didn’t like this or do you go beyond that? How far you go and the direction will determine your next degree of success. One place to start is dig until you find out why you were rejected, this may give you something to work on for the next time. Here is one tip that I found to be very helpful - whenever you send out a writing to a publisher include a self addressed envelop that says something like:
Thank you so much for your review of my work. If by chance it is not accepted could you please tell me what I can do to be more successful the next time. Then give them a few choices to respond to like - clarity of writing, does not fit your style, needs more development etc. I have gotten at least 80-90 percent return rate on these and they have been extremely helpful in my development. Then correct what they said and resubmit it. The chances of getting approved on a resubmit is normally worth the effort.
Have you identified your target market? I won′t even say any more beyond that. You have to point your writing some place, where are you directing it. Untargeted writing will not be effective. Find out what you are really good at and maximize that area. There is lots of information available to help you to develop your target market. Find those sources and get busy.
Finally you must patiently wait for success. But as you wait define basic areas of success for every season of your writing. This will keep you encouraged. For example you might set a goal to have submitted your writing to 100 sources, when this is accomplished feel good about it and rejoice in that season of success. Next you might say that out of those hundred you will feel accomplished if 10% respond. Then you begin to work with that 10% and find your next level of success. You will find that you are so much more satisfied than waiting for the day the book hits the best sellers list. Small degrees of success by standards that you personally set can be extremely rewarding and keep you going. You might also decide to take more writing courses, learn through teleconferneces, join writing organizations, or get together with people that have the same goals as you do in order to improve your skills. These type of investments will help you to wait patiently because you are actively contributing to the increase of your success as you wait.
Linda Leon is a person who loves God, enjoys
inspiring people and has done a gazillion things like write books,
produce TV programs, and get ordained. Feel free to contact her blog at
thewritespot.ning.com ©copyright 2007 by Linda Leon.
Leon.