Are you willing to go through blood, sweat, and tears to reach the level of success you want? My friend, in this day and age, you must be willing to work your butt off to get anywhere. Let’s jump into this post!

Today’s post was inspired by a conversation with my dad and sister. The root of all success is hard work. If you’re always looking for the easiest excuse to not do things, I can promise that you’re never going to get anywhere.

Those big fancy authors? They had to work hard for the success they’re enjoying.

J.K. Rowling didn’t become a billionaire because she let her life go on the way it was. She spent years outlining her books and finetuning them perfection. Those amazing plot twists didn’t just pop fully made into existence, you know.

Rick Riordan didn’t write Percy Jackson in one sitting. That book is long, and I am willing to bet that it went through more than one draft.

These authors who have ‘made it’? They had to work for that. We didn’t find out about them until after they had done it, so we don’t see that stuff going on in the background, but it’s there.

Why should we do less?

Don’t our characters, our stories, deserve only 110%?

Don’t our future fans deserve the best possible version?

I know the feeling of thinking that you’ll never get there. That it’s so far away, and wondering why you even keep doing it. But my friend, we are writers. Somehow, we are inexplicably drawn back into an imaginary world where we are in control. We have a story that needs to be told, and when you find it, you know that it’s the one you were born to give to the world.

I know, it’s hard to find them. I went through many ideas before finding mine, and the craziest part was that I was inspired by a Pinterest prompt. Not the most romantic place to find it, but hey, all that matters is that I did, right? 😉

Even if you’re not sure if your book is The One, always give it your best. If you only work mediocre on a story, I can promise that you’ll miss The One. I didn’t realize till recently that I had found mine, and that was after spending just over a year on it!

The time we live in is both the best and the hardest time to make it as a writer.

If you can do it, it’s amazing. It can work. But with the rise of the internet comes a more cluttered space than ever, making it difficult to find your success. It’s like you’re that one little star that’s light years away from earth/the publishers, and hundreds of others are trying to shine brighter than you. All you can do is twinkle your best, even though with the way light travels, they won’t see the work you’re putting in now until years later. But it’ll be beautiful when they do.

(Wow that was a great analogy!)

Even after your book is out there – whether it be through traditional publishing or self-publishing – you still need to market the thing! After reaching that point, most writers assume that they’re done. That they’ll become instant best sellers.

But it doesn’t work that way. (sadly)

Bookworms are critical buyers because they don’t have much money to spend on books. You’ve got to convince them to spend their money on yours. And traditional publishers don’t do all the work. By starting a blog, you can start to build your audience now, and that twinkling star will shine through when the time comes. You’ve had years to build a loyal and devoted audience, and now it will pay off.

This post is pretty rambly, and all over the place, but I think you get the idea by now: you must work hard if you’re going to get anywhere. It will take years. It will take many late nights, early mornings, headaches, self-doubts, and tears because you’re sure you’re not good enough.

But the thing that must define you between you and the wannabe writers is that you stick with it.

There are so many people who dream the same dreams as you but aren’t willing to do that work.

You are.

And that makes all the difference in the world.

Poison Dragon Updates

I have been having both a blast and an agony where this book is concerned. My fingers fly across the keys, yet at the same time, as I write, I feel like I’m throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping that it will stick.

I have a plot that I invested 20 long, painful hours into, but 8 hours into this draft and I’m doubting it. I’m not letting myself edit it, because if I do, it will never be done. Instead, I’m letting those words be the spaghetti, and I’ll add some duct tape later.

What is up with all these analogies today??

I actually have been adding in things that I didn’t write into the plot. It’s both really random, and really awesome. It feels like the story is taking the wheel more than my calculating brain, and although I wonder sometimes if all these things will even make it into the final draft, I know for sure that, in the long run, it will make the story into its best version. (I found out a couple days ago that Esther is deathly allergic to cinnamon)

I don’t think I’m going to hit 40 hours goal. My head cannot stand 3 hours a day. I made it on the first day of needing to, and the second one only got through 1 before needing to stop. Later that night, I got in just over half an hour, but I now know that my abilities do not stretch as far as I wish they did. Maybe another post on that subject later? 😉

But of course, you’ve been waiting for snippets.

 

My eyes are streaming with tears. I must have somehow sucked some of the fine cinnamon powder into my nose. “Cinnamon makes me-” I let out another sneeze. “Sneeze.”

 

“You had a terrible fit,” Arielle explains, sitting on the floor beside me – I’m on a cot, I can now recognize. “You’ve always sneezed at cinnamon, but this was something different. None of us were sure what was happening until you began to swell – that was after you swooned dramatically right into Conrad’s arms, by the way.”

“What?!” I exclaimed, sitting bolt upright this time before Arielle can stop me.

“Settle down, Es!” she exclaims, alarmed at my sudden movement. “I was joking; it wasn’t a swoon, I promise! You blacked out.”

 

I gulp, my grip tightening even more around the corse rope. Don’t let go, I tell myself, even my mental voice hoarse. Don’t let go.

 

What did you think? 😉 If you enjoy those, you should sign up to my mailing list! Those on it get three more snippets that don’t appear on my blog each week. (Or month, if you prefer to only see me in your inbox 12 times a year)

 

 

 

 

Did my tips on success make sense?

Have you ever found my tip in it to be true?

Did you enjoy the snippets?

And how is your Camp goal going?

-Julia

 

 

Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash