The road to a writer’s success is always under construction.
What do you think ‘success’ looks like for writers? Read today’s post then leave a comment to join this dialogue. And don’t forget to scroll to the bottom to check out today’s writing prompt.
There’s this coffee mug I like to use that has the phrase “The road to success is under construction.” on it in simple bold type.
I appreciate thinking about this phrase as I drink my morning coffee and write because it reminds me to keep thinking of writing as a journey I get the privilege to go on and enjoy building day by day and word by word, not as a one-time destination (an award or fleeting moment of recognition) or a one-time deliverable (an article, short story, novel, etc.). Yes, I am well aware how hokey and clichéd this sounds, but that doesn’t make it any less true, so bear with me for a minute.
Each time I read ‘“The road to success is under construction.”, I wind up asking myself things like: “When will you actually feel ‘successful’ as a writer? When will this road under construction ever end… if you want it to ever end? And is how you’re constructing this road a chore, joyful, meaningful, or something else?” And so on. Eventually, however, when the answers to those questions begin to seem too hazy or overwhelming, which they usually do, I ask myself one crucial follow-up question:
“What can you do today to feel ‘successful’ as a writer?” To which the answer is always simple: “Today, you will be a ‘successful’ writer as long as you write something, anything, even if it’s only one sentence.” Which is part of the story behind how Daily Drafts & Dialogues came to be.
I know a lot of writers will say that you don’t need to write every single day to be considered a writer or to become a ‘successful’ writer. And I agree with them. Whole-heartedly. Full stop. You don’t need to write every single day to consider yourself a writer or to become a successful one. But…
(Yes, of course there’s a ‘but’. I did call this publication DAILY Drafts & Dialogues after all.)
I know how I feel on those days I don’t write, as well as all the self-doubt and confusion that follows them. And how it feels to come back to a blank page after a few days or months away from writing and feel… well, blank, or overwhelmed, or worse, underwhelmed. And I know how distractible I am when I can’t reach a flow state while writing because I’ve neglected my daily writing habit for too long, replacing it with inconsistent writing spurts mixed with too much time on social media instead. I could keep going, but I’m pretty sure you’ve also experienced these feelings at some point, or glimmers of them anyway, and that I don’t need to elaborate any further than that.
Essentially, I keep a daily writing habit and write every single day because I like feeling focused enough to get lost in the flow of writing when I sit down to write, most times I sit down to write. Of course some days are easier than others. But I know for a fact that my harder days are more frequent if I don’t write every day. And I still remember how previous writing lapses made me doubt my writing and writing process and if I’d ever be a ‘successful’ writer. Sure, some days I write thousands of words while others I write only dozens. But most days (as in nine out of ten days on average) I write a number of words in between those two extremes (anywhere between 800 and 1,500). And, this is important, I actually enjoy writing when I’m ready to write each time I sit down to write, thanks to my daily writing routine.
I’ve written about the benefits of keeping a daily writing routine before in 5 Major Benefits of Keeping a Daily Writing Routine, which include being able to maintain a strong writing momentum and avoid writer’s block, reach achievable writing goals, enjoy consistent creativity, and have more enjoyable writing sessions. I will also add that maintaining a daily writing routine takes a lot of pressure off feeling like you need to deliver perfect, world-changing sentences each time you sit down to write, as well. When you write every day, you’ll feel less stress on days you only end up writing one paragraph you know will be deleted the next day, for instance, precisely because you know you’ll get back to writing the next day.
I would NEVER tell someone who doesn’t write every day that they aren’t a writer, or that they’re not serious about being a ‘successful’ writer. But I will tell them all the ways keeping a daily writing routine has benefited me and my writing, and how it’s benefited others. I would also share with them some of the following advice:
“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” — Jodi Picoult.
“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.” —Jane Yolen
“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” — E.B. White
“The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”— Louis L’Amour
“I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.”— W. Somerset Maugham
“The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it.”― Ernest Hemingway
“A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.”― Anthony Trollope
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Will Durant summarizing Aristotle.
In all seriousness, what do you think ‘success’ looks like for you as a writer? Or for any other writer? And if you have different requirements for ‘success’ than other writers, why is that?
Do you think a writer is only ‘successful’ when they have been published by one of the major publications that keep hoovering up all the smaller indie publishers, or when they win a Pulitzer or Booker Prize? Or is it when they have sold one million copies of a book they’ve written? Or does a writer’s ‘success’ depend on five million book copies sold and a movie deal instead?
It’s time to start defining what ‘success’ looks like for writers differently, especially in the twenty-first century, when what a handful of remote privileged judges and publishers think doesn’t and shouldn’t hold the weight it once did.
Writing ‘success’ doesn’t and won’t ever have a fixed destination or definition, like we try to assume. That’s what makes it beautiful and powerful, even empowering. There is no such thing as ‘success’ for a writer, other than the success that the journey of writing alone can bring them. Again, I know this sounds hokey and clichéd, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
Consider: What happens to the writer who wins a Pulitzer or sells one million copies of a book if they stop writing after receiving that Pulitzer or making those astronomical sales? Do they remain a ‘successful’ writer if they aren’t writing anymore?
All being a ‘successful’ writer entails is one’s devotion to writing regularly, to continually honing and enjoying their craft and writing journey. That’s it. There is no final destination point. Writing continues. And so does each writer’s individual road to ‘success.’
As long as I write every day, I consider myself ‘successful’ because I don’t want my writing journey to only consist of fixed destinations, or even scarier, an endpoint. Even if I get published by a major publisher, sell millions of books, and win prestigious awards, I will still only be a ‘successful’ writer if I continue writing with no final destination in mind.
Again, “The road to success is under construction.” reminds me to keep writing, one word, one sentence, one paragraph, one page at a time. The work won’t ever end because I don’t want it to end, and because I still want to keep building things with my words. And that’s something worth being proud of every day when I sit down to write. I don’t need to wait for anything else to happen to feel successful. I just need to keep writing.
What are your thoughts? How would you define ‘success’ as a writer?
Leave a comment to join this dialogue, then remember to share this post with others so they can join this dialogue too.
© This work is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) training. All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC.
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Today’s Writing Prompt
Writing Prompt: “I am successful when ...”
Write a journal entry or piece of flash fiction that begins with: “I am successful when...”
