7 Signs You Have What It Takes to Make It BIG as a Writer
Don’t Just Give Up Yet!
Ah, the writing life.
The blank Google docs.
Board full of sticky notes.
A little bit of procrastination.
And lots of self-doubt.
One of the best things about writing is that anyone can do it. Really. But only a few people develop that actual deep love for it.
You might already are a good writer (or would like to be). Whatever it is, but if you’re not completely sure, here are 7 signs that prove writing is your “thing” and you’ll become BIG at it.
1 — You Already Have a Writing Habit.
This does not mean that you need to write every single day. (Though it wouldn’t hurt if you did so.)
The point is, you already probably write regularly. And that’s the first sign you’ll make it BIG as a writer.
You see, writing and rewriting (or editing) are the only way to become a successful writer.
2 — You Understand That Writing is a Long Game.
You’re not fooling yourself into believing that writing equals easy money (and lots of it). You know it’s the complete opposite.
You know very well that most writers don’t get rich right from the beginning.
You also already know the story of famous J.K. Rowling.
She was turned down by a number of publishers before she got the book deal. That too just for 1500 pounds.
But you still chose to pursue writing as a career or as a side-hustle, despite the amount of time and efforts it takes.
3 — You Did Not Wait For Anybody to Help You.
When I decided to get into writing in college, I was completely clueless.
In fact, I had to do a lot of research just to get started.
Sure, people gave advice whenever I asked, but I neither relied on it nor waited for anybody to guide me.
Every day, I spent hours upon hours reading blogs, books, and researching online to get an idea of what was successful.
4 — You Enjoy Writing Even When People Criticize It.
Writing is hard work. And even if you work really hard, you’re still going to face criticism and rejections.
But if you enjoy writing past those criticism and rejections, it’s a sign that you’ll become BIG at it someday.
When I started my writing career as a junior content writer at an IT firm, I was assigned a list of 50 publications where I had to publish guest-post articles and earn backlinks.
And boy I faced rejections. Lots and lots of it. But I kept at it. I slowly became better at it. And eventually, I was finally able to publish my articles on all publications mentioned in the list.
5 — You Know Half of Your Writing Will be CRAP!
All your pieces won’t do well.
You won’t be able to nail it every time.
But if you keep writing regardless of those flop pieces, then it’s a sign that you have what it takes to become a successful writer.
Even though I have my work published on Entrepreneur, HuffPost, and many other popular publications, I still write totally crap pieces sometimes.
The point is, this happens to all writers. So, don’t worry, and just keep at it.
6 — You Don’t Give Up No Matter What.
You face rejections.
You feel discouraged sometimes.
You even wonder if you’re just wasting your time.
But you still don’t GIVE UP!
Instead, you read more about writing as a craft.
You keep writing and rewriting to create better work.
You make the best use of rejections, criticism, and self-doubt by working even harder.
7 — The Success of Other Writers Inspires You to Keep Writing.
You think “If they can do it, why can’t I do it too?”.
Instead of being jealous of other writers’ successes, you strive to enjoy similar success in your niche.
In fact, you don’t even consider other writers as competitors, because you know that there will always be plenty of room for serious writers.
Bottom Line:
Doubting your ability to write is normal. All writers doubts themselves at one time or another. Even Stephan King once felt he was a terrible writer. Yet, he has wrote some remarkable novels in his time.
The point is, you’re not alone. And if you can connect yourself to any of the above points, then my dear friend….You’re a writer!
Originally published at www.screwedupengineer.com.
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About The Author:
Jaimin runs a one-man-show content agency — Screwed Up Engineer — which he started as blog, but now he helps multinational brands and companies in growing their website traffic and sales by demystifying their success and failure stories.
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by +428,678 people.
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