How do you respond to successful writers? The ones with bestselling books, large platforms, or lots of influence?

When it comes to dealing with them, we commonly have two different responses. Either we dismiss their success as dumb luck, or we ignore them because their success reinforces our own insecurity. If you have ever responded this way, don’t feel bad. Every creative person on the planet has felt this way at times.

Our natural creative pride makes it hard to put ourselves in a learning position. But that is the only way we can grow.

A major key to success is putting yourself in the orbit of other successful writers. This can include people whom you’ll never meet, as well as people you can develop a personal relationship with.

Let’s take two examples. Stephen King and another writer you know personally who is more successful than you. Chances are pretty slim that you will ever be able to convince Stephen King to mentor you personally. However, there are plenty of interviews and articles about his writing habits and approach to storytelling. You can learn from all of these.

But even more powerful is the writer you get to know personally. Invite them out to lunch, have them as a guest on your podcast, subscribe to their newsletter and develop a dialogue with them, or join their course or mastermind. You will be amazed at the openness other successful writers have about sharing their strategies and what they have learned from their failures.

This is the exact reason I continue to pay to be a part of masterminds, courses, retreats, and conferences. I invest in myself because my future success depends on it. So many writers aren’t willing to invest time or money into their creativity or business. But when you do, you’ll immediately set yourself apart and get yourself on the fast track to more success.