Tag Archive - writing life

10,000 Hours Can Feel Like 10,000 Miles

highway

Not long ago I read Malcolm Gladwell’s best seller, Outliers, which got me thinking about the long, tedious road to publication. Although we occasionally hear of the author who gets a contract with a traditional publisher for a first novel in record time, it seems more the norm to hear of stories of authors (like me) who have been trying to get published for five, ten, even twenty years. Through research Gladwell discovered experts agreeing on the amount of time needed to bring a person to the level of an expert in his or her field. He cites examples: Bill Gates, Robert Oppenheimer, The Beatles, as some who put in the requisite 10,000 hours into their field or craft. It just seems to be a very basic rule that to become proficient in any field, you need to put in a lot of hours—which equates to a lot of years of diligent effort.

There are no shortcuts or get-smart-quick ways about it. Unless you’re a prodigy or Mensa genius, you are going to have to become an expert the old-fashioned way—by hard work and persistence. In this modern age of instant gratification in which we can’t even tolerate more than five seconds for a web page to load, the idea of having to take such a long time becoming an expert in our craft is downright annoying. We want it all now—success, recognition, fulfillment. Continue Reading…

The Positive Side of Rejection

not good enough

Today’s guest post is from author and blogger Angela Ackerman, whose insightful wisdom can be found at The Bookshelf Muse.

I bet a few eyebrows jumped up at reading the title of this post. In fact, right now people are crossing their arms and expelling a bitter laugh or two as they recall the soul-eating, BP-oil-spill darkness that accompanied their last rejection. Something positive? What, it came in an email so no trees had to die to deliver it? Come on, Angela, get real.

Okay, first of all, saving trees is a good thing. :) But that’s not what I mean. All rejections, paper or otherwise, have a positive side. Continue Reading…

Finding Your Footing as the Ground Shifts Beneath You

man on edge of cliff

There’s a moment for many writers when a tectonic shift occurs in their writing process, one that may not even be all that noticeable on the surface, but sends out powerful waves across the landscape of their writing life. I’ve seen this happen with dozens of my editing clients as they near either the completion of writing their book or upon finalizing a rewrite and seeing “the end” near in sight for that particular project. This shift manifests in various ways, but the early signs start with questions about “what to do, now that I’m done.” Continue Reading…

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