What distracts you from writing? Do you have cats wandering in and out of your office while you write? Are there children in the house? Maybe your spouse is retired and at home. Perhaps you’re distracted by something as simple as a sunny day or friends going out to lunch or for a round of golf.
Do you allow temptations to lure you away from your writing? Or do you stand strong against the call to go read a novel, watch a cooking show or mow the lawn? How do you handle the lure that threatens to take you away from your writing? If your writing is suffering, your earnings are down and you’re missing deadlines, you probably tend to cave in the face of distraction. On the other hand, if you collect enough each month to pay the bills and add to your nest egg, you’ve probably established some excellent work habits.
What are some of the habits of highly successful writers? Read on.
1: Establish a schedule and stick to it.
Hobby writers write when they feel like it—when inspiration strikes. Most successful career writers write according to a schedule. At least they begin their career by adhering to a strict schedule. After a while, writing is so much a part of their life and their routine that they no longer have to think about a schedule. They write according to the needs and expectations of their publishers, agents, readers and themselves.
2: Say “No” to distractions.
Most people find it difficult to write amidst activity. Barking dogs, a blaring TV, frolicking children, constant interruptions are not conducive to the act of writing. Choose your writing time and place carefully. Learn to say no to lunch dates, shopping trips and those other luxuries you enjoyed before you decided to become a career writer.
3: Set rules.
Retrain your friends, family and neighbors to respect your writing time. I always recommend that writers give when they take away. When you decline an invitation to lunch on Thursday, offer, instead, a jog together with your sister, for example on Saturday morning.
4: Look at rejection as an opportunity.
Rejection is difficult for a writer at any stage of his/her profession to accept. But it is part of the career package and a writer or author must learn to accept this fact. Now, how can you turn a rejection into an opportunity? By immediately turning the submission around. Either resubmit the same query or story to another magazine, change it to fit a different type of publication or come up with one or several new ideas.
5: Say “Yes” to unexpected opportunities.
Sometimes we miss opportunities. We don’t see opportunities or we just let them go—disregard them. I’ve learned to say “YES” to most opportunities and I figure out how to make it work later. An editor might ask me to write a piece on a topic I know nothing about. I say “yes” and then start conducting research. Someone might invite me to participate in a workshop in Wisconsin a week after I return from a writer’s conference in Honolulu. This actually happened. I said “YES,” and then figured out how to make it work.
6: Take risks.
Writing for publication involves constant risk-taking. You’re always trying to write what the editors, publishers and the public want. It’s a constant second-guessing process. What are you afraid will happen if you choose the wrong topic or present it in the wrong way? You’ll be rejected. And you might be rejected even if the topic is right on and the writing is, too. Maybe you don’t have enough confidence to send your article idea to a major magazine or your book proposal to a large publishing house. How will you ever know if your manuscript would be accepted if you don’t even try?
7: Promote, promote, promote.
Writing for publication, whether it’s articles, short stories or book manuscripts, requires constant promotion. It is rare that a publisher or magazine editor comes looking for the writer. We, the author or the writer must constantly put ourselves out there. We have to come up with the article ideas, for example, find the right magazine and pitch it in the right way. For the most part, we will not make sales beyond what we pitch. This is also true for authors with published books. Your book will sell for as long as you are willing to promote it.
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