How to be the Secret to Your Own Writing Success
I have failed at almost every single fiction writing goal I’ve set in the past 18 months.
I know what you’re thinking. How is this failure of a writer going to help me get better?
You get to benefit from my mistakes. Actually, it would be more accurate to say you get to benefit from your own mistakes successes. That’s what I’ve realized: we writers hold ourselves to too high of a standard.
The View From Here
I just discovered I was aiming way too high, thinking too far ahead and concentrating too much on my failures. More than a year and a half ago, I set a goal of drafting my first novel. I wanted to ride the literary fast train to writer-land. I looked into writing groups, researched creative writing MFAs and wrote outline after outline.
As it turned out, I was nothing more than a hobo on that train. I never even bought a ticket, much less boarded at the station. Every time I sat down to work on my novel I felt overwhelmed. If I didn’t crank out a few pages, that day counted as a dud in my mind. To date, I have a mere 16 rough pages written of that novel. I ditched dreams of an MFA for another brand of storytelling and I have yet to search out a writer’s group.
Wanna know why?
Because I figured out that all those things wouldn’t work for me.
Secret Weapon: You
And I’m not saying they haven’t or won’t work for some, but I slowly realized these approaches wouldn’t help me at all. I learned this very recently after I began working on another love in my life: running. I’ve also had surgery for a torn ACL recently and the rehabilitation has proved long and challenging. I began running again as part of the rehab and found that I missed the sport dearly.
I ran cross country and track in high school and was successful at it, recording solid times, serving as team captain and even being elected to my school’s cross country hall of fame. As I’ve started running more, finding slow and steady success, I asked myself why I could accomplish goals with my feet to the pavement but fail when I put my hands to the keyboard.
One: I’ve set realistic goals. I’m not running a marathon, only for a few minutes at a time. Two: I’m patient. I’d love to go run two miles, but I’m just not there…yet. Three: I see each time I walk out the door and run as progress. And progress is better than failure any day.
I’ve started applying these guidelines to my fiction writing and I’m approaching it with more zest and feeling much more effective. Not to mention, I’m having fun!
So, what works for you? Because that’s the secret here.
Start Asking Questions and Enjoy the Answers
What are you already successful at?
Are you a excellent knitter? Woodworking wunderkind? Were you born with a green thumb? Whatever it may be, what principles, tips and tricks can you apply to your writing life?
Do it and I bet you’ll find out you can be more successful at this writing thing than you think.
Photo credits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chichacha/ / CC BY 2.0
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddsock/ / CC BY 2.0
David A. Kennedy is the Online Communications Manager for The Arc, a nonprofit that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He’s also a writer, former journalist and co-creator of Journalism Lives, a blog about how interactivity is improving the news. You can read more of his work at his website and blog. He can be found on Twitter @DavidAKennedy.
It’s true, we are often our worst critic. Loading so much pressure onto our backs as we try to tell our tales. I have found that I cannot force a writing of any size. If the words are not ready to come, the characters not quite ready to develop, or the story isn’t stepping up to unfold, I have to walk away. Honestly, I will fall asleep sitting up at my keyboard if I am trying to force my words anymore. It is the weirdest thing. If the muses aren’t ready to work with me, I must retreat and try something else until they are.
I think that’s a wise approach, Rob.
It’s another thing I’ve learned in relation to this – knowing what works for you.
It’s why I’ve started a blog, why I write songs, why I still write journalistically and why I pen fiction. I have all those choices to dive into when I WANT to write. My muses help tell me WHAT to write. And it works.
You’re right. I’ve done the same thing – except when I commit to doing it or dedicate time to doing it. And it’s like knitting (my hobby) – the more I do it, the more I want to do it. And the little writing things help (like blogging) because it’s not as ominous as a novel – but it’s a bridge to get you writing.
Thanks for blogging!
Debbie, that’s exactly what I’m doing with my writing. I see any kind of writing, from blogging to song writing to fiction as practice… So I’m wanting to do it all – more. And better yet, I never feel guilty because I didn’t write this or that.
And thank you for reading!