Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing. The weather has turned colder, so we’re in hibernation mode once again. But enough about that, today I’d like to talk about writing. I haven’t written about this subject in a minute, and I thought I should.
The thing I like about writing is all that matters is the story. That’s right. I’ve seen writers achieve publication who don’t have a social media presence and barely have any followers on Twitter. How do they do it? It’s simple. All it boils down to is they wrote a good story.
The story is the final product after many tweaks and rewrites. The thing no one tells you though, it may take years to make your story good enough for publication. According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point” and “Outliers,” it takes at least ten thousand hours to become an expert in any field. So, writers must do a lot of writing before they become experts at writing.
However, most don’t get paid while they’re becoming experts unless they’re a journalist or a technical writer. That’s where the rub is. A programmer gets hired into a company and is paid a wage while he’s honing his skills. The same with a plumber, builder, or construction worker. They get paid while they improve. However, a novel writer doesn’t get paid while they’re creating their masterpiece. They don’t get paid while they’re increasing their skill level, but they persevere and get those hours in any way.
Writers must have the grit to push forward when they’re not getting any recognition or payment for their work in the hopes, they’ll be able to sell their finished product. Nothing is guaranteed, and that’s why very few writers find an agent and make it to publication. They give up before they get there.
Writers have to have the courage to suck and keep on writing. Especially when you finally finish your work, and the market has changed. No one’s interested in a story about living on Mars because that’s old news. It’s been done so many times before. That’s why writers also need to be visionaries and predict the future as well.
So, it all boils down to whether you as a writer have the grit to push forward when the going gets tough? What do you do when you can’t see your writing path clearly? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!