Some writers think that success occurs in a magical moment when the stars and planets align for a particular person. But waiting for Fate to tap your shoulder as the lucky one places your chance to succeed in the hands of strangers.
And, yes, it is just luck at that point.
You can build your own success as a writer or an author without waiting for Fate to come calling. You don’t have to just hope to be “discovered” by a publisher or a major blog. You don’t have to wait for destiny to align your stars.
Just follow these 5 steps, and writing success is in the palm of your hands – not those of strangers:
1. WRITE. If you talk a lot about writing, do plenty of writing research, tell all your Facebook friends about how you’re a writer… well, you’re not actually writing. You’re doing everything but. A writer writes. Period. A writer spends time tapping on the keyboard and publishing the results, whether as a book or blog posts or something else., and a writer moves forward with steady progress.
2. READ. When you’re not writing, read. Read everything you can get your hands on, and not just books in the genre you like to write. If you’re writing a nonfiction business book, read fiction. If you’re writing a fantasy tale, grab a business book. If you don’t have books, read magazines or even the backs of cereal boxes. The more you read, the better a writer you become.
3. FINISH. You need to finish what you started. Even if you hate it. Even if it sucks. Even if you think it’s awful. Starting to write a book without ever finishing it means you’re not a true writer – you’re just a wannabe. Starting to write blog posts and leaving them half-finished and never published won’t work. Ever see a practicing cook stir a cake endlessly without ever putting it in the oven? Of course not – so finish your book or your blog post and be done with it, for better or worse. You can always edit and improve on it later.
4. PUBLISH. This can be anything from hitting ‘publish’ on a blog post to self-publishing to writing ebooks and handing them around to friends. Publish, as in, get your work in front of people’s eyes so they can give you feedback. Do you have a critique group? Let them tell you what they think. You have to get your writing out in the world so you can accomplish the next step.
5. LEARN. This step is the true secret of successful writers. Writing and showing other people what you can do with words isn’t the last step – it just lets you gather feedback so you can listen and learn. Take in what people say about your writing. Find out what they liked and what needs work. Improve your skills, and with each piece you publish, observe how you can become an even better writer next time.
Need proof that these 5 secrets of successful writers are the simplest key to success? Look at all the popular names of A-list bloggers and bestselling authors with paperbacks on bookstore shelves. Each and every one of these writers has used these exact 5 steps to get where they are today.
They actually DO these 5 steps. Over and over and over again.
Don’t you think it’s time for you to give this proven method a try?
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