To write and promote your writing at your best: Love what you do; relate well to the public; keep striving to improve; if it's right, do what you fear; and take chances to promote. Every day, make your life about more than writing. Fit it into your life, rather than working your life around it.
Love what you do.
If you are writing about things that interest you, then you are probably enjoying writing right now. Your mind and heart at times overflow with thoughts and emotions that you want to share in articles or non-fiction/fiction books.
Maybe your niche is short story writing, or plays. Maybe you are in advertising.
Whatever you are doing as a writer, I hope you are enjoying your topics. If not, this is a good time to make some adjustments.
Relate well to the public.
Most writers are solitary people. They prefer to be alone with the pen and paper or the computer screen and keyboard.
There is nothing wrong with that. Many writers build solid "relationships" with readers through pages and words. I think skilled humorists do this especially well, but others do, too.
At some time, however, if your skills win you more readers, then you will need to get out there, in public, at book events and other places.
If you are shy, it's OK. If you think of your writing and what most interests you---back to "love what you do" above--then you will relax more quickly and your mind will get off yourself. Shyness is, after all, extreme self-consciousness. You can get over it or at least manage it.
Keep striving to improve.
The writer often deals with the human heart and desires. That's the main
reason for the writer to keep improving and to give reliable information or encouragement. The best you can do as a writer is to desire to achieve and to become an outstanding example in your field.
Like pros in any field, the confident writer is always
trying to improve. Confidence does not equal laziness, resting on laurels, or
satisfaction. Think about successful pros in sports, medicine, or anything
else.
I am a sports fan. Sports players provide excellent examples of striving and succeeding. Are we practicing with the zeal of Tiger Woods or any of the college basketball greats, who practice at every opportunity?
We can find ways, even if with fewer hours for practice than the pros have, to study and learn. Take the little book Elements of Style or another terrific writer's resource book along with you. Read a page or few while standing in line or waiting for an appointment or car pick-up.
The pros keep a thermometer with them all the time when at work or
practice, to chart their skills --whether
progress or setbacks. That thermometer is either an inner, memory tool or their written notes about their professional discoveries
and performance.
They either gage their strengths and weaknesses in a
heartbeat on their own, or they hire good people to be with them to
help them evaluate and correct what's wrong.
Let's follow their example and try to pay more attention amid the clamor of everyday life and keep records of our pitfalls and accomplishments the way they do. Once they note their need, they move on, practicing the changes they need to make.
If it's right, do what you fear.
My main calling for a long time was raising my daughters and being at home when they returned from school. That was my desire, to be the first to hear their news and thoughts. That went on until they were about 17.
Along the way, part-time and then full time, I began to write bureaucratic summaries, academic research papers, and proposals for funding grants. I was not at high salary levels. I did small jobs. I worked hard at it, nevertheless.
It was, however, opposite to my life at home, where my emotions and efforts were heavily invested.
When I began to think of writing about what interested me, I struggled a lot. I did not realize that my previous work required writing skills, vocabulary,and tone that were not completely useful for the expressive writing I wanted to do.
It was like starting over, in a way. I wanted to touch readers' hearts and lives with ideas and feelings that had thought, study, and experience behind them. It took me 15 years, off and on, to finish my first book.
I passed through every possible valley of fear, doubt, and frustration. I am still learning how to shift from formal to friendly writing.
If I can shift, anyone can, for I tend to over-analyze.
Take chances to promote.
Promoting your writing may be your least favorite thing. Yet, today's writer's skills bank includes marketing, public relations, and public appearances.
Many writers feel uncomfortable recommending their own
work. That attitude may seem respectable and even admirable. But consider this: try to imagine someone who has something important to share about the
human heart being shy.
Or try to picture Tiger Woods being shy about announcing his
next tournament. His fans might cry, "You're breakin' our hearts out here!"
Do you mind if a heart specialist, for example, has a ton of confidence? I don't mind if any professional in a
field of interest to me wants me to know about their work. As long as their success
is real, I enjoy being close to it, even if only as a spectator.
Notice how pros in sports are often measured by how approachable and friendly they are toward fans.
Being public about your writing does not mean that you have to be public about your life. Most pros know and practice this. Stick with the subject, and going public is a good thing.
When I have the option of putting my bio, for example, on the Internet, I think hard and long before I include very much about myself. Similarly, you will notice that most pros will not hand you their home addresses!
It makes as much sense to hide your writing from the public, though, as for any other pro-new to a skilled area or many years into it-to hide from their professional work, to keep it a secret.
Your presence, in person and through writing, may even save countless others a lot of frustration and heartache as you share yourself wisely, professionally, and with confident determination.
Get ready to get out there!
Make your life about more than writing.
Recently I said to my husband, "I think I'm too much a fan of me!" A recent reward had spurred me to write at almost hectic levels.
I made a big effort to pull way back and get moving in another direction. I wanted my husband to see more of me than the top of my head bent over the laptop!
In a C-Span interview, American historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said that she learned, at age 23, that she did not want to make her work her life. She loved being around the political atmosphere of Washington DC. She helped President Lyndon Johnson with his post-presidential writing.
It was at President Johnson's ranch when she realized, she said, that for him political life was his life. Retired, he grasped for straws of memory and even ran the ranch like a governmetn meeting.
To paraphrase her, she said, "I realized I did not want to end up like that, at the end of my life to say I had written 70 books, and that was it. The next year I got married and soon after started having children. I have a full life."
Because writers need feedback and confirmation, due to the solitude of writing, it is easy for us to become almost obsessed with our work. We can over-enjoy public exposure of our articles or books.
We do not have to yield to that, however. We can make sure we strive for balance, as well as for success. Happy writing and meaningful life to you!
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