Are You A Hard Worker?

Thanks to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing for today's photo. How right they are in telling us that writing a book is hard work. So is writing an essay, a feature article, a short story, a poem or a children's story.

I am amused when I hear people comment that at least a childlren's story or a poem doesn't have that many words so is a lot easier than for writers of lengthier projects. In some regards, perhaps so, but writing shorter is not easy. Writing poetry is not easy--it takes a great deal of skill to put in 20 lines what a story writer says in 2000 words. It's mighty hard to tell a children's story with a beginning, middle and end, that also entertains and/or delivers a subtle message in 750 words, sometimes fewer than that. Believe me people--that's hard work! 

If hard work has no appeal for you, then I suggest you skip the writing world. If you're willing to push yourself on writing projects and make them as polished as possible through rewrites and several edits, you just might become that successful writer. 

For each writer, success can be measured differently. Are you a successful writer if you write a column in your monthly church newsletter and nothing else? If you are satisfied with that amount of writing, then you are successful. If you have short stories published in a dozen magazines, are you a success? If that was your goal and it makes you happy that you schieved it, then count yourself a success. If writing and selling six novels is your goal and you've attained that, you're also a success. You can call yourself successful if you have achieved what you set out to do. 

Do all writers reach their goals? Of course not. Sometimes we need to adjust our goals. Beginning writers have dreams of glory dancing in their head. They start writing the novel they've thought about for years. Then they discover that it really IS hard work. They end up quitting and starting several times. Nothing seems to work right. Maybe then it's time to step back and look at the goal that you set. Maybe you're starting too high. I've said many times in this blog that it's wise to start with the small writing projects and work your way up to the larger ones that prove more difficult. 

It's also smart to study your craft. Read all you can about writing. Attend conferences. Take classes. All these things will help you attain your goal of being a successful writer.

I doubt that a contractor builds an entire house for his first project. He usually starts working for another contractor and concentrates on one small area of building a house. He moves up to larger things, learning as he goes. To be a contractor takes years of experience, just the same as the writer. Build a house. Write a book. Both require hard work and time.