Writing Success – It’s Habit Forming

 

Psychologists say the best way to achieve success is to act like those who have already achieved it. The success soon follows.

As an editor and agent, I’ve noticed that the most successful authors are the ones who’ve always behaved like successful authors. They’ve developed habits that enable them to write their best and their most, and to live fulfilling, productive personal lives.

What are these habits for writing success? I’ve identified six of the biggies, and I’d like to share them with you.

Successful writers word hard, but they also play hard. They see writing as a job to be confined to more-or-less regular hours. In the remaining hours they concentrate on leading full personal lives and spending time with family, friends and, most important, themselves. They then return to their jobs refreshed and recharged. There’s no danger of burnout.

Successful writers take their commitments seriously. Whether it’s completing a novel by deadline, revising an article by a promised date, or getting an agent that first draft for discussion, the successful writer knows that honoring commitments demonstrates professionalism and thereby builds credibility. It is this credibility that wins respect-and priority treatment-from editors and agents every time.

Successful writers take their work-but not themselves-extremely seriously. They know that without humor they’re lost, especially in this chaos we call publishing. A sense of humor makes a writer a person as well, someone a colleague can connect with on an ultimately more important level. Life eventually seems too short for writers without that humanizing touch of humor.

Successful writers think constantly of their long-range goals. They know where they want to be in one, five, ten years, and they set up smaller “goal posts” along the way. Nothing is left to chance. Every project contributes in some way to completing the big picture. Editors, agents, publicists, and salespeople all become allies in making the writer’s dreams come true.

Successful writers are always writing. Sounds obvious, yet how many writers have we seen send a proposal or manuscript to an agent or editor and then sit back to wait and see what happens? Successful writers know how slowly the wheels of publishing turn, and that the answer they’re waiting for may be less than ideal. Better to have something new and exciting on the boards to soften the blow, not to mention to have used that waiting time productively. Other writers wait for inspiration, or for that joyous feeling, or for the house to be clean or the kids to be quiet or the bills to be paid-and they never write. Successful writers know that there will never be a perfect time, and so they just write. Always.

Successful writers hire the best professionals they can find, but they never take their eye off their business affairs. Though they’re careful to choose agents, lawyers, and accountants they can trust, they are also careful to educate themselves enough to be able to challenge that contract clause, that book jacket, that advertisement, that publicity campaign. They know the ultimate truth in “If you want something done right, do it yourself.”

If you want to be a successful writer, act like one. Keep the above advice in mind. Before you know it, true success will be yours.

Evan Marshall, president of The Evan Marshall Agency, is a former book editor and packager. Recently he and coauthor Martha Jewett released The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software, based on his bestselling The Marshall Plan® writers’ guides. Evan is also the author a number of popular mystery novels; recently released are Death is Disposable and Evil Justice. Visit http://www.writeanovelfast.com and download Evan’s 77-page Fiction Makeover Guide with tips and ideas on writing a great novel.

Leave a Reply