Almost daily, I meet authors who have big dreams. For example, they want to write and publish a bestseller. They want to win writing contests or awards or speak at large events. I applaud these dreams and encourage them to achieve their goals. However, today, I want to write about a different aspect of the writing life—celebrating the writing journey.
The writing journey is filled with many different twists and turns. The process of getting the ideas and stories in your head down on paper takes hours of work and creativity. It involves sweat and hard work. As Colin Powell said, “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.”
But if you only do the necessary work and never celebrate your progress—even if small and slow, before long you’ll be discouraged, burned out, or ready to quit. However, there is a way to ensure you complete the writing journey.
How to Celebrate the Writing Journey
I encourage you to understand the publishing process and, more than that, enjoy the journey to authorship. Consistent celebration of your big and small wins will keep you committed to writing, publishing, and even promoting your book.
To help you do so, here are 10 things to celebrate.
- Did you check your book on Amazon and find a new review? Celebrate.
- Did you get an email from someone telling you about how your book helped them and, in response, ask them to write a review on Amazon and send them a link to that page? Celebrate.
- Did you meet a new editor who can publish your material in their magazine? Celebrate.
- Did you complete a magazine query letter that you sent out to several publications at the same time? Celebrate.
- Do you have a literary agentinterested in your work? Celebrate.
- Did you read a new book which gave you insight into your own writing? Celebrate.
- Did you write a review of a book you read on Amazon and Goodreads? Celebrate.
- Did you meet your word count goal for writing your current work in progress? Celebrate.
- Did you get out of your chair and walk or exercise to help your physical health? Celebrate.
- Did you reach out to an old friend when you read their article (or newsletter), and it touched your life? Celebrate.
I’m sure you can think of many other small wins to celebrate daily.
Appreciate the Writing Journey
I was listening to Darren Hardy in one of his Darren Daily recordings discuss the successful people that he’s interviewed. His fascination (and learning) is not with their particular achievement or the way they became famous. His keen interest is in the lessons and process they went through to achieve success.
I’m focused on the same thing: the importance of the writing journey itself.
The road is not easy. At times you fail (get rejected). Other times you publish a beautiful book that you promote and market, yet few people buy it. Or your book gets bad reviews.
Yes, these situations happen. When they happen to you, what do you do? You have two choices: keep moving forward or quit. I hope you keep moving forward. From my experience, the people who succeed in publishing understand that rejection and failure are part of the writing journey.
A writer’s journey isn’t always a straight shot, nor is the road consistently smooth. Almost daily, I face some technical glitch. I don’t let that glitch completely throw my day. I press on to something else I can accomplish, then work on solving the problem later. It’s a process to learn to do what you can and be grateful for those actions—and to let the rest go. Then you can celebrate what you have accomplished and how much farther you’ve traveled on your way to successful authorship.
Even if you take just one small step each day on your writing journey, that’s something to celebrate. And your daily celebration will keep you taking steps forward toward your goal of successful authorship.
Is celebration a part of your writing journey? I hope so. Tell me in a comment below. (And, if you found this post helpful, please share it with at least three people.)
About the Author
W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor, lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Photo courtesy of The Climate Reality Project on Unsplash
Hey Terry,
This is a fantastic write-up. Yes, I’m not a writer. I just have started writing my own blog. The primary goal is to improve my writing skills. As a best-selling author, could you please recommend the books every beginner should read.
Thank you very much.