Sitemap
Practice in Public

If you want to become a better writer, you have to hit the publish button. Notes and drafts don’t count. Practice in public helps writers get off the sidelines and turn pro.

Follow publication

Member-only story

The Top 1% Of Writers Get These 3 Things Right

4 min readMay 7, 2025

--

Photo by Humphrey M on Unsplash

Feeling stuck in your writing journey?

Like you’ve accidentally boarded the wrong train and it’s headed for a writer’s ghost town? Or maybe you’re drowning in an ocean of “expert” advice about how to grow online — each tip tugging you in a different direction.

Exhausting, right?

Here’s a little truth serum. Your writing dream isn’t locked behind a velvet rope or guarded by an angry troll demanding a secret code. It’s just sitting there. Waiting for you to reach out and claim it with 12 months of focused effort.

Success in writing isn’t complicated.

It’s just that most people give up before they ever hit the juicy bit. But if you follow these three steps for one year. You won’t just get close to your dream. You’ll be living inside it, feet up, sipping coffee from your “#1 Writer” mug.

Step 1: Plant your flag where actual humans can see it

I still remember launching my first blog.

I was buzzing with excitement, fully expecting the internet to throw me a parade. Balloons, confetti, Oprah shouting “you got a reader!”

--

--

Practice in Public
Practice in Public

Published in Practice in Public

If you want to become a better writer, you have to hit the publish button. Notes and drafts don’t count. Practice in public helps writers get off the sidelines and turn pro.

Derek Hughes
Derek Hughes

Written by Derek Hughes

I'm an old bloke with zero writing experience. In 18 months, I built a $35k writing business. Get my free 5-step system: https://www.derekhughes.biz/