Six Secrets For Writing Success

This week a writer asked me whether I could guarantee her success as a writer. "Of course I can," I replied. "Just develop these six attributes. And by the way - these attributes are not just for writing. They apply to anything you care to apply them to."

Here you go:

One: become committed to your writing
Make time and space for your writing in your life. This isn’t always easy, and on some days you may only find five minutes, but it's the solid commitment and perseverance that counts.

When you're committed, you keep writing, even when your writing is (you think) going badly. You keep writing, even though you’re not sure why, or what you are going to write. All writing is a process of discovery. Commit yourself to discovering the writing that YOU were meant to write.

Two: be honest in your writing
Not only is your writing honest, you're also honest with yourself.

Three: be passionate about your writing
Writing is hard. You must write what you enjoy, if you don’t write what you enjoy, your readers won’t enjoy it either. The first rule of writing, is “be interesting”, and it’s impossible to be interesting if you’re not passionate about what you’re writing.

Four: be present to your writing
Being present to your writing means that when you’re writing, you’re really writing. Take time to relax before you write, do some relaxation exercises. Relax your body completely, when your body is physically relaxed, it’s impossible to be tense.

For many writers, anxiety is part of writing, but I’ve learned over the years that anxiety can be completely removed when your body is as loose and as limp as a noodle.

Five: be positive about your writing
One of Hemingway’s rules for writing was “be positive”, but you need to be positive about your writing as well as in your writing. This means that you regard every rejection as valuable feedback.

Much of your writing happens below the surface, in your subconscious mind, and you can’t know what’s happening down there. It's not important that you do. A pathway of rejections is always nudging you towards writing that succeeds. Just follow the path.

Six: trust – have faith in your writing
Following a pathway of rejections requires trust.

Trust that you're writing what you're meant to be writing. Trust that you're exactly where you're meant to be, right now. Whether your trust comes from your spiritual life, or from your positive nature, is not important.

When you trust, you’ll realize that you don’t need to force things. When you keep writing, things will happen, events that you could never have predicted, and that you could never have organized for yourself.

For example, my first novel was purchased by an editor because another editor sent my proposal to her. I'd already sent several proposals which didn't work to this editor. If I had taken these rejections to heart, and stopped sending proposals, I would never have made my first sale. I didn’t organize anything, it just happened.

I’ve noticed that over and over in writing, you need to trust that you're where you should be. Because you are.

So, there you go - six secrets for writing success. Develop these attributes. You can do it. :-)

My gift to you: Holiday Season Writer's Gift Pack - Santa's sleigh is packed with gifts for you, dear writer. I wish you and yours a joyous holiday, and your best writing year ever in 2007.

Technorati Tags: creativity, Motivation, writing

Comments

[Tim Hooker]

Thank you.
I teach English at the community college level and my MFA is in Creative Writing: Fiction. And, that is some of the best advice I've seen in a long time.
Thank you.
TWH