Here’s just one example. A number of years ago, an aspiring author decided he wanted to write a book about the key personal decisions that determine personal success. Except he didn’t want to write it in the traditional non-fiction format. Instead, he wanted to teach the concepts in the form of a story.

He spent a year writing the book, then proceeded to submit it to a publisher. It was rejected, so he moved onto the next one. Rejected again.

The author tried a third and a fourth time. Still more rejection. Pretty soon, he worked his way up to a dozen rejections. Still no dice. So he kept pushing forward, submitting the book to more publishers. This went on for another dozen rejections. Then another dozen, and another dozen still.

Then after spending three and a half years, and getting rejected by 51 publishers, he struck gold when Thomas Nelson publishers gave him a green light. That book was The Traveler’s Gift, and the author was Andy Andrews, whose books have now sold over three million copies worldwide.

Andy Andrews tried 52 times before he got what he wanted. This may sound like an extreme example, but the story of persevering in the face of obstacles is common in the publishing world. Even if you are self-publishing, you will face challenges, setbacks, and problems that require you to dig down deep and keep moving when things aren’t going your way.

This historical novelist James Michener once said, “Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.” There are a lot of writers with talent, but not all of them have the character and discipline to keep going in the face of rejection.

How about you? What are you up against in your writing? Are you willing to be persistent? How many times are you willing to try?

Because you may not have success on the third or fourth tries. It might just take 52.

The post How Many Times Are You Willing to Try? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

What about a whole paragraph, a scene, or even a whole chapter? And ultimately, an entire book?

It sounds impossible, doesn’t it? After all, the letter E is the most common letter in the English language. How could you possibly write a book without the letter E? It simply can’t be done.

At least, that’s what people kept telling a writer named Ernest Vincent Wright in the early years of the 20th century. He got so tired of hearing people tell him it couldn’t be done that decided to prove them wrong. The result was a 50,000-word novel called Gadsby, which in fact doesn’t contain the letter E.

To accomplish this feat, he had to tie down the letter E on his typewriter so he couldn’t use it. In doing so, he met his goal.

As you can imagine, a whole novel without the letter E is fairly clunky to read. But you have to respect Mr. Wright’s determination when everybody told him it couldn’t be done.

So the next time you have a big writing goal and people keep telling you all the reasons you can’t do it, why you will fail, or how they tried something and failed, remember good old Mr. Wright banging away at his typewriter with the letter E tied down.

Unfortunately, he died in 1939, the same year his novel was published, so he didn’t get to enjoy his success for long. But he died knowing he reached his goal.

Not a bad way to go.

Question: What goal do you have that others doubt can be done? Does it motivate you to prove them wrong?

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If you were to guess what the most requested image in the National Archives is, what would your guess be? Would it be something related to the moon landings? Maybe something historic related to WWII or the Civil War? Maybe something from the turn of the century?

If so, you’d be wildly off base. The most requested photo in the National Archives was taken on December 21, 1970, in the Oval Office. It shows Richard Nixon shaking hands with Elvis Presley, who was wearing one of his famous jumpsuits along with a giant gold belt buckle.

You might wonder, how in the world did these two famous figures end up in the same picture, and what does it have to do with writing?

Let’s tackle the first question first. On December 19, 1970, Elvis Presley abruptly left Graceland and flew to California to meet his friend Jerry Schilling, who joined him on a flight to Washington, D.C. They were met there by another of Elvis’s friends, Sonny West. Elvis often did things on a whim, and this time he had decided he wanted to get a DEA badge. He had always been a big supporter of law enforcement, and he often collected badges from the police and other officers when he was on tour.

Despite his image as a rebellious rock ’n roll star, Elvis was actually quite conservative. It bothered him that the problem of illegal drugs was getting out of hand, and he wanted to do something about it. His solution, as crazy as it sounds, was to become an official undercover drug enforcement officer. He felt that his status as a public figure could help lend support to the fight against illegal drugs.

Having struck out with the powers that be in D.C., who refused to give him a badge, Elvis decided to go straight to the White House to seek an impromptu meeting with the President himself, Richard Nixon. He directed his limo to pull up to the White House gates at 6:00am and gave a handwritten letter requesting the meeting to the guards, asking them to pass it along to the President. At first, he was rebuffed, but later in the day, he received the call at his hotel that the meeting was on.

And yes, Elvis did get his DEA badge that day. He was immensely proud of it and was excited to show it to his family and friends when he got back to Memphis.

So… what does that crazy story have to do with writers?

It all comes down to taking initiative to get what you want. Do you want a podcast? A book deal? Do you want to write a book series? Do you want to write full-time? What specifically do you want to do in your life as a writer?

Whatever it is, go for it. Take initiative. Get assertive. So many writers just sit passively by, waiting for something to happen to them. You’ve got to get off your duff and start making things happen.

On the wall in my home office, I have a printout of that famous photo showing Elvis and Nixon shaking hands. I hung it as a reminder to get a little crazy, to take action, and to do whatever it takes to make my writing dreams come true. They’re not going to happen for me by accident, and they’re not going to happen by accident for you, either.

Question: What did you learn from this story about Elvis, and about taking initiative as a writer?

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If someone gave you the assignment to write a sentence without the letter E, how would you respond? Would you think it’s too difficult, or that it can’t be done?

What about a whole paragraph, a scene, or even a whole chapter? And ultimately, an entire book?

It sounds impossible, doesn’t it? After all, the letter E is the most common letter in the English language. How could you possibly write a book without the letter E? It simply can’t be done.

At least, that’s what people kept telling a writer named Ernest Vincent Wright in the early years of the 20^th century. He got so tired of hearing people tell him it couldn’t be done that he decided to prove them wrong. The result was a 50,000-word novel called Gadsby, which, in fact, doesn’t contain the letter E.

To accomplish this feat, he had to tie down the letter E on his typewriter so he couldn’t use it. Yet, he met his goal. As you can imagine, a whole novel without the letter E is fairly clunky to read, but you have to respect Mr. Wright’s determination and persistence in the face of everyone telling him it couldn’t be done.

So, the next time you have a big writing goal and people keep telling you all the reasons you can’t do it, why you will fail, or how they tried something and failed, remember good old Mr. Wright banging away at his typewriter.

Unfortunately, he died in 1939, the same year his novel was published, so he didn’t get to enjoy his success for long. But he died knowing he reached his goal.

Not a bad way to go.

Daily Question: What goal do you have that others doubt can be done? Does it motivate you to prove them wrong?

The post It Can’t Be Done… or Can It? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Everyone fawned over their natural talent. sophie rain real name Everyone assumed their gifts would carry them on to great success. In most cases, this never happened. They went through life frustrated because the promise of their great talent was never realized. They never had that bestselling book, they never wrote that Academy-award-winning movie, and they never got those awards everyone assumed were coming. Don’t fall for the lie that talent is enough. There are plenty of successful writers whose talent is just fine, but they have gotten successful by doing the hard work. They showed up every day, wrote the words, revised them, published them, and connected with readers, mentors, and partners who helped them. Talent is helpful but it’s a small part of your success. Success in writing has a lot more to do with putting in the time and developing good habits than natural talent. Hard work isn’t sexy, cool, or attention-getting. But hard work is the only thing that actually works. Talent, on the other hand, is overrated.

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There is a common trait among successful writers, and it has nothing to do with skill, talent, genre, or style. Instead, it has everything to do with taking responsibility for your own life choices.

Most people are passive observers of their own lives. They accept the choices that life hands to them. They assume what they see other people doing is what they should be doing also. They go along with the crowd, never rock the boat, and never achieve their dreams.

On the other hand, successful writers know that life is not a multiple-choice test. If they don’t like the options in front of them, they create new ones.

How do we do this? We do this by taking advantage of all the amazing opportunities we have today as writers. There is an almost unlimited number of opportunities for you to get your work in front of readers and make a good living while doing it.

Is it hard to strike out on your own pathway while everyone around you is conforming to social norms? While everyone else is doing what other people expect? While everyone else is not writing books or putting in the work to build their own writing business?

Of course it’s challenging. Nobody said this would be easy. But if you are going to make something happen, this is not the time to be passive. This is not the time to limit your options. The world is a giant buffet of opportunity. Will you take advantage of it?

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We deal with a lot of obstacles as writers, but one of the biggest is rejection.

Rejection can come in many forms. A publisher or agent can reject your book proposal. Your subscribers can reject your emails by not opening them. Your followers can reject your social media posts by not liking or sharing them. Readers can reject your books by not reading or buying them. Clients can reject your services by not signing a contract or ignoring your emails.

Whatever form rejection takes… it hurts. And let’s be honest, it can hurt pretty badly. Some writers never recover from it. So how can we deal with it?

J. K. Rowling offers some great advice. She said, “Resilience and humility. These go hand-in-hand, because rejection and criticism are part of a writer’s life. Informed feedback is useful and necessary, but some of the greatest writers were rejected multiple times.”

So, the next time you’re rejected, remember that all professionals get rejected sometimes. Nobody has a 100% batting average. Even major league baseball players only get a hit about a third of the time.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep going. If you’ve been rejected by someone lately, join the club. It happens to the best of us sometimes. But remember: professionals not only get rejected, they also never give up.

The post Been Rejected Lately? Join the Club. appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

This is not unique to writers. Anyone in a creative field, or anyone trying to build a career for that matter, faces this hurdle. How do you get people to sit up and take notice? How do you draw attention to what you are building? 

The comedian Steve Martin famously said, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” The simplicity of this statement is stunning. Those seven words contain the secret of getting noticed, building an audience, and all the other things writers and creatives want. 

It’s worth asking ourselves whether we are committed enough to our writing craft to keep going until people notice us. Are we willing to put in the early mornings and late nights? Are we willing to keep rewriting and editing until it’s as good as we can possibly make it? Are we willing to try different things even though there is no guarantee it will work?  

The answer to those kinds of questions will determine whether people will ignore us… or they will eventually sit up and take notice. It’s the willingness to do the work and to keep getting better—not necessarily your level of talent—that makes all the difference. 

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