The Write Attitude
A successful writer becomes a success long before the first book contract is signed. Success happens when you make the decision that it will happen. No, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that if you visualize it, it will happen. That’s T-shirt philosophy and I won’t insult your intelligence with it.
My version of making the success decision is this: Once you’ve determined that you will do whatever it takes, work as hard as it takes, sacrifice whatever it takes, and make it as much a part of your life as eating, that is the moment you become a success. You become a writer.
The Long Road to Writer
For some reason, writing is the one profession that many of us feel doesn’t require years of training and education. I doubt that any one of you would decide to become a brain surgeon and walk into the nearest hospital, demanding a six-figure salary, a private office, and a country club membership. So why do new writers give up after a few years?
It took me almost six years to earn an engineering degree. I did some part-time study as well as full-time. No one was going to pay me to be an engineer before I held that diploma. Most writers don’t have the luxury of learning our craft full-time. Some of you have an hour a day, some have an hour a week.
Now, according to a prominent agent, it takes the average writer four complete novels before she is published. Okay, how long does it take you to complete a novel? If it takes a year, which is pretty fast, you can expect it to take four years to get published. If it takes you two years to complete a novel, it may take you eight before you see your name gracing the bookshelves of your nearest Borders.
Re-taking Writing 101
Some of us have gone through our “dark years,” where we quit writing altogether. I have no stats to back this up, but I’m willing to bet that few of us can just pick up where we left off. We need to re-take a few classes. It may take us a fifth or sixth novel before we’ve honed our craft enough to satisfy an acquisitions editor.
Like I said, it comes back to your attitude. Are you hoping to get published or are determined to work as hard as it takes to get published, and published again, and again? There’s a huge difference. The vast majority are in the hopeful group. A select few fall into the Write-attitude category.
So how about you? What changes have you made in your attitude to place you in the tribe of people called Writers?
