Kent talks to author, ghostwriter, and editor AJ Harper about her new book, Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives–Including Your Own. AJ shares why a book is not just a better business card, why you need to have a “reader first” mindset as a writer, what to do when you have limited time to write, and what to do if you don’t have a platform.

AJ Harper helps authors write transformational books that enable them to build their readership, grow their brand, and make a significant impact on the world. As a ghostwriter and as a developmental editor, she has worked with hundreds of authors, from newbies to New York Times bestselling authors with millions of books sold. AJ teaches her method in Top Three Book Workshop and the Must-Read Editing Workshop.

She is the Head Writing Coach for Heroic Public Speaking, the premier speaker training program created by Michael and Amy Port. She is writing partner to business author, Mike Michalowicz. Together they’ve written nine books, including Profit First.

Also, make sure to check out this fantastic conversation between AJ and Mike Michalowicz on writing craft.

The post How to Write a Must-Read Book with AJ Harper appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Kent talks to author and podcaster Jen Smith about how she has used her podcast and books to make both of them more successful, how she engages her audience with podcasting, and the secrets behind her phenomenal podcast growth.

Jen Smith is the co-host of the very successful Frugal Friends Podcast, as well as the author of several books, including the No-Spend Challenge Guide, which has well over 1,000 reviews on Amazon! Jen also writes on her Modern Frugality blog.

The post Growing Your Audience Through Podcasting with Jen Smith appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Now that you have a basic idea of what The Writer’s Path is all about, I’d like to share my story of traveling this pathway myself.

I began blogging around 2007 or 2008. I had several blogs and was just writing for fun. I wanted to build a business but didn’t know how. I was a college professor and wanted to create more income to support my family.

Then, around 2010, I began following Dan Miller, the founder of the 48 Days brand. He emphasized building a business around your writing using multiple streams of income. I was intrigued and attended his “Write to the Bank” conference in 2012. As I continued to follow his teaching, as well as material from people like Cliff Ravenscraft, Michael Hyatt, Jeff Goins, and of course Dan Miller, I started to have a strong desire to create a business.

My first paid writing gig was writing podcast show notes for a client. That soon expanded into several clients. My business was growing slowly and I was also trying several other kinds of side businesses to see if I could make faster progress. I tried networking marketing, selling used books on Amazon, business consulting, and doing part-time church ministry. None of those were successful or greatly fulfilling.

During the same time, starting around 2015, I began writing books and hosting a podcast. Although I wasn’t making any money from those things, they gave me the desire to continue creating my own content. I saw lots of other people doing the same thing and making a great living, so I decided to keep plugging away at it.

In 2019, I was introduced to ghostwriting, which is where I have continued to focus most of my energy. As that side of my business has grown, I’ve also put a bigger focus on growing the side of my business that is the Daily Writer, which includes the podcast, a membership community, books—including the upcoming Daily Writer book—courses, and eventually, other products.

I really enjoy doing both client work and having my own material. I love having multiple streams of income. Some of them are very small right now but I think it’s important to get things started and then find ways to grow them. The Writer’s Path represents what I see others doing who are successful, as well as where I’m headed also.

My point in sharing this is to encourage you in your own journey. I believe you can do the exact same thing I have done. I’m not anyone special. I’m just highly motivated. If you feel the same motivation, you can be far more successful if you take consistent action and don’t give up.

Daily Question: What could your life and writing business be like three years from today if you took consistent action toward your goals?

The post My Story of Traveling the Writer’s Path appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Most people, including myself, create a task list each day. We also call this a “to do” list. These are things we must do. And in a world that increasingly demands our attention every second—in a world filled with ever-increasing opportunities and connections—this list seems to get longer all the time.

The antidote to all this is to create a “stop doing” list. These are things you are NOT going to do.

Some examples:

– Stop committing to extra activities.

– Stop feeling guilty for not doing more

– Stop answering email 15 times a day

– Stop starting new projects until you publish the current one

– Stop comparing yourself to other writers

– Stop watching the news

– Stop holding grudges

– Stop following people on social media who irritate you

Success as a writer and creative person isn’t really a matter of doing more. It’s mostly a matter of eliminating the negative and unproductive things in your life so the good things can naturally start sprouting up.

Daily Question: What item from the list above should you stop doing?

The post Create a “Stop Doing” List appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Over the past six days, we have been through a key cycle in the creative life of a writer: preparing, planting, watering, pruning, harvesting, and celebrating. This is the cycle of growth we go through again and again as we pursue higher levels of growth.

In the Western world, we are used to jumping back in again right after we achieve something. We live in a workaholic culture that says our value is directly tied to our output. If you want to be valuable, you must constantly produce, right?

That’s an unhealthy way to look at life, and it’s also a great way to get burned out. The faith community has long recognized the value of rest. The book of Genesis tells us that God Himself, after working so hard on the six days of creation, took time to rest.

If God saw fit to step back, take a look at His creative work and call it “good,” then take a day of rest, why do we think we don’t need a day of rest also?

It’s important to build a day of rest into your weekly schedule. Not only that, but you must rest each day by getting enough sleep, and dare we say, taking a midday nap. Many of the world’s greatest thinkers and creatives had a regular napping habit.

Rest is not lazy, and rest is not a shortcut. Rest is essential. Sometimes the very best thing you can do for your creativity and productivity is rest. You’re not Superman (or Superwoman) and you’re not God. You need your rest. It just might be the most important thing you do today.

The post Resting: Create Space in Your Life appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

As you continue to grow in your writing skills, your connections, and your influence, you will have more and more opportunities. This is both a good and bad thing.

Obviously, opportunities are wonderful! You can write for more outlets or reach more readers with your own writing. With this expanded influence and connection also comes the need the limit your activities to the few things that produce the most results.

It’s hard to run a YouTube channel, host a podcast, write books, maintain a blog or newsletter, speak at conferences, and do all the other things you see influencers doing… unless it’s your full-time job and you have a staff. You’re going to have to pick and choose what to focus on.

The best filter is to focus on those activities that you enjoy, and that you will do consistently. You can grow a platform and writing career many different ways. But as you grow in your career, you will have more options, and you will need to prune the ones that don’t serve your vision and direction.

As they say, you can be whatever you want, but you can’t be everything. Focus on just a few activities that will get you the biggest results in your writing life.

Pruning is not easy. At times, it can be downright painful. But after you have prepared the soil of your mind, and planted and watered the seeds, you must cut back all the dead weight so the growth process can continue.

The post Pruning: Eliminate A Few Activities appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

In her landmark book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dr. Carol Dweck argues that your mindset, far more than your talents or abilities, is responsible for your personal and professional success. To be more specific, she contrasts two approaches to life: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

A person with a fixed mindset sees their intelligence as basically set. As a result, they will go to great lengths to look smart and avoid looking dumb. They avoid challenges and obstacles, shy away from criticism, and view success as a zero-sum game where others must lose in order for them to win.

On the other hand, a person with a growth mindset sees their intelligence as malleable. They are less concerned about looking smart. They love to learn. A growth-minded individual embraces challenges, keeps going in spite of obstacles, and invites constructive criticism. This type of person also understands that other people’s success doesn’t represent a threat, but rather an opportunity for everyone to grow.

Take a moment to do a quick and honest self-assessment. Do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? As you look at your recent challenges, opportunities, or accomplishments, which type of mindset best describes what you have experienced?

Over the next seven episodes/days, we will explore what it means to grow as a writer by using some metaphors from nature: preparing, planting, watering, pruning, harvesting, celebrating, and resting. These consistent actions will help you grow as a writer and an overall person.

But before we dive in, it’s critical to ask yourself this question: Are you willing to do what it takes to grow into a stronger writer than the one you are today?

The post Two Mindsets: Which One Do You Have? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Courage is a theme that seems a lot of us have been talking about lately. For many people, the last couple of years have been a time when they’ve had to bolster their courage in the midst of many changes. I can’t remember a single two years in my lifetime where so many things have felt uprooted and tenuous in the world as a whole.

But with change comes the need for courage. This is as true for writers as anyone else. We don’t necessarily think of what we do as courageous. On the surface, it appears pretty safe and secure. But putting yourself out into the world through your words, or all the things required to do that like starting a business or striking out on your own by leaving a job, absolutely require courage.

One of the hardest parts of change, and one of the areas that requires the most courage, is the need to let go of things as we figure out who we are. You can’t become more successful or become a better writer by staying the same. In fact, the very definition of change and progress means to become something different than what you already are.

The hard reality of success means that you have to let some things go. So, on today’s episode, I want to share three areas where we need to learn to let go in order to be more successful as writers. I don’t want to give the impression that I have all this figured out, because I surely don’t! These are lessons I’m learning right now, sometimes very painfully.

1.) If we’re going to be more successful… we have to let go of some books.

Yes, you heard that correctly. What? A writer let go of books? That’s crazy, right?

A few months ago, I left my full-time job as a college professor in order to be a full-time ghostwriter, as well as run my Daily Writer membership community. However, I’m still an adjunct professor there, so I didn’t feel an urgency to clean out my office.

However, I recently spent a couple of hours going through hundreds of books I still had in my office. My intent was to give the vast majority of the books away to other professors and students. And then what was left, I’d donate to our school library.

I only kept a couple dozen of these books. But why give all those books away when I had invested thousands of dollars in them over the last 15-20 years? The reason is because those books were helpful for a certain period in my life, but they’re no longer helpful on my future journey. You can’t make room for new ideas or new blessings in your life if you keep on hanging onto things that no longer serve your vision.

Some of these books were ones I had used as textbooks for classes. Others were reference books related to worship, arts, film, sound systems, theology and ministry… all areas where I used to teach. But I’m no longer teaching those courses, so there is no need to keep them.

Writers have a hard time getting rid of books. After all, we have immense respect for books and what they can do for your life! But when you pass along those books to someone who can benefit from them, you not only free up space in your office or home, you also bless someone else. In fact, you are doing a disservice to a book if you hang onto it after it’s no longer relevant to your life. A book WANTS to bless others, so the best thing you can do is pass it along. It’s not meant to be a collector’s item—it’s meant to change people. So, give your books a chance to do that if you no longer need them.

2.) If we’re going to be successful… we have to let go of some expectations.

Writers, by definition, tend to be an introverted group of people who don’t like change. Most of us like systems, predictability, and routine. We prefer sitting in a room alone for hours in front of a computer screen instead of being in groups of people. Which is all well and good.

The downside of the typical writer personality is that we have a hard time with change and risk. But you have to remember that nothing is certain. There are no guarantees, either when you have a writing business where you are serving clients, or whether you are writing and launching your own books or other content.

There is more change and disruption happening in the world today than probably at any point in human history. All bets are off. Every industry is undergoing massive change because of technology. But instead of seeing this as a threat, it’s a great thing because it means we get to build the kind of business and life we want.

It also means we need to let go of our preconceived notions about what to expect. We have to roll with the punches, be nimble, and be able to change and grow and take advantage of new opportunities. This means that your long-term goals are important, but your short-term strategies may need to be reconsidered.

It’s like Charles Dickens says at the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” But you get to choose which one it will be for you, and it begins by letting go of expectations, having fun, and being willing to adapt and grow.

3.) If we’re going to be successful… we have to let go of some relationships.

This is probably the hardest one to swallow. Why? Because most of us don’t like conflict and we don’t like to feel we are leaving others behind. But the cold, hard truth is that the circle of relationships where you are now, is not the same circle that will take you where you want to be. This fact alone stops a lot of people from growing because they are not willing to make tough changes.

You’ve probably heard about what happens in a crab basket. When you put a bunch of crabs in a basket, and one tries to crawl out, the others pull him back in. Most social circles work the same way. Whenever you try to grow or improve, the people around you who don’t want to grow will try to discourage you. They may not do so directly, but they will express doubt that your plans or dreams are realistic. People will try to keep you in the crab basket of mediocrity in all kinds of ways.

Once I had been teaching college for 12-13 years, I knew there was something more I wanted. I didn’t want to do that job forever because the context of our tiny college was very limiting. We had a small number of students, my salary was very limited, there was no potential for it ever increasing, and most of the people I was spending time with had no intentions of building a business. Nothing wrong with that at all, and they were wonderful people. They still are. But I knew that if I wanted to build a business, I had to start spending time around people who thought and dreamed bigger, and who were doing the kinds of things I wanted to do.

So, I started getting involved in mastermind groups and communities. I started taking courses and investing in myself. I started doing freelance work. I started podcasting and writing my own books. Most of the people in my day job didn’t know what to think of this because it wasn’t in their DNA to build something of their own.

I’m not talking about denying the value that some people have had in your journey. You can be grateful for a season or a phase in your life and recognize its value, while at the same time also understanding that you need to have a different focus moving forward. The two things are not mutually exclusive.

Life is a journey, and if you’re not willing to let go of some things, you won’t have room in your heart and mind for the people and things that you need to carry with you going forward. I hope you will give some thought to these three areas where you need to do some pruning.

As always, let me know if I can help in any way.

The post Learning to Let Go appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Think about some of the most important achievements in human history. These would include such feats as Amelia Earhart flying solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbing Mount Everest, Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon, Magellan setting sail around the world, and many thousands of others who faced their fears and took action anyway.

You and I are no different. We have challenges and scary things staring us right in the face every single day. You can probably think of something that intimidates you as a writer. Is it setting up a website? Publishing a book? Pitching an article to a large publication? Writing and publishing a short story?

Whatever is it, run toward it. If you want to do it, but you feel scared, that is your subconscious mind telling you it must be done, no matter how you feel about it.

If you only do what feels comfortable, you won’t make any progress. You won’t grow. Progress and growth are predicated on the act of doing what scares you. So put on your big boy or big girl pants and start moving forward. You’ll figure it out as you go along. And as soon as you overcome this challenge, there will be a bigger one waiting just behind it. But this time, you’ll be better equipped to face your fears head-on.

The post Doing What Scares You appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

We have it pretty easy in the modern world, right?

In many ways, this is the golden age of writing. We have more opportunities than ever before to publish our work and impact other people with our words.

Yet at the same time, it’s also a challenging time for writers. Why? Because there are so many options for writing and publishing that it’s easy to get overwhelmed and paralyzed by all the possibilities.

As a person of faith, I grew up learning about the Ten Commandments. These are the rules that governed God’s people in the Old Testament, and in many ways, they have formed the basis of ethical behavior in human culture for thousands of years.

The helpful thing about having a set of commandments is that it simplifies things. You have a clear idea about what is right and wrong. Those guidelines govern your behavior and eliminate your options.

What if there was something similar for writers? Something like a code… or perhaps a set of commandments… that could guide our behavior and show us clearly what is most important?

You’re in luck because I have put together such a list. Of course, these commandments are not original to me. These principles have been practiced by writers, and all successful creatives, in one way or another for a long time. However, it’s helpful to have these collected in one place.

I believe you can go to the bank on these commandments. If you practice them consistently, you WILL be successful as a writer. These are the principles I try to follow in my own writing, as well as my ghostwriting business. But they will also help you, no matter what type of writing you do.

Commandment #1: Embrace your identity as a writer.

The #1 problem that stops most people from writing has nothing to do with talent or ability. It has nothing to do with a lack of time or opportunities. But it has EVERYTHING to do with them not believing they are a writer.

When you stop and think about it, this is kind of crazy. The average person can easily write 1,000 words a day between text messages, emails, social media, and other communication in their everyday life. Yet when it comes to writing a short blog post of 500 words, or even something like a longer book chapter, they don’t believe they are talented enough.

Success as a writer has very little to do with talent. Instead, it has everything to do with seeing yourself as a writer, then putting in the work on a regular basis. That’s pretty much it. If you write… by definition, you’re a writer.

I have recently been training for a half marathon. I guarantee that when I do the race in a few weeks, I will be in the bottom ten or fifteen percent. I’m slow. I’m not in as good a shape as most of the other runners. But I’m going to get out there and do it. And most importantly, I’m going to finish!

I AM a runner. I’m slow and there is lots of room for improvement, but I still embrace my identity as a runner. Why? Because I’m running. I’m putting in the work every week to train and prepare. And that makes me a runner.

So, if you write, you can proudly call yourself a writer.

Commandment #2: Don’t compare yourself to other writers.

You can make a lot of mistakes as a writer and still be successful. But one of the mistakes that will kill both your enthusiasm AND your success is constantly comparing yourself to others.

Granted, it’s almost impossible not to do this as a writer. After all, it’s human nature to compare ourselves. And social media has made it impossible not to notice other people’s success in writing. Whenever you see a friend hit a bestseller list or launch a new book, it’s hard not to feel jealous.

But that negative energy doesn’t really help you with your own goals, does it? When you focus on what you lack, that negative mental energy only slows you down and makes you feel bad about yourself.

Worse yet, what you see on social media is only a small part of other people’s lives. When you see a successful book launch, you’re only seeing the highlight reel. You don’t see the months—or even years—of hard work that went into the making of that book.

So instead of feeling jealous, let other writers’ success spur you on to your own achievements. You’re not on the same journey as they are. You have your own journey with writing. There is no point in comparing yourself because you either end up feeling bad about yourself, or you feel prideful because you seem to be doing better than someone else. Both of those will take you off course.

Commandment #3: Take action on what you learn.

A few months ago, I cleaned out my home office. Over the last few years, I had printed off thousands of pages of free PDFs, e-books, seminar and workshop notes, and other material that I thought would help me with my business and writing.

Truth be told, I used very little of it. Most of it was great material taught or written by leaders worth following. But it was too much information. WAY too much. For several years, I fell prey to the curse of knowledge. I was accumulating way too much knowledge and was putting very little of it into practice.

Maybe you have done this also. It’s very easy to do! There is so much great information out there that it’s almost impossible not to have a constant stream of it coming into your podcast player or inbox.

Here is the key: the next time you listen to or read something helpful, figure out if it’s something you should take action on. Then do it. It’s a pretty simple concept that will work wonders for your writing or your business.

This may sound counter-intuitive, but I also encourage you to delete or unsubscribe to things that are not helping on your journey right now. Too much information can absolutely paralyze and confuse you. Trust me, I’ve been there! And I’m still there, sometimes.

When I cleaned out my office, I literally filled up our roll-off trash can with those printed notes. It was crazy. But it was so freeing being able to discard the material that wasn’t helpful to me right now in my journey. Don’t be afraid to do the same thing.

Commandment #4: Make time to read every day.

This probably seems contradictory to the last point. Didn’t I just say that you should stop accumulating so much knowledge, and instead focus on putting it into practice?

Yes, I did. But here is the key: you need to read often, and read widely, in order to figure out what is helpful. If you want to be more creative, and you want to be a deeper thinker, you have to fill your creative well. Let me address two quick things on this point of reading.

First, what should you read? I recommend having two books going at any given time: one for education, and one for pleasure. Right now, I’m reading a book by the world-renowned copywriter Dan Kennedy on marketing. I’m also re-reading the excellent book The River of Doubt by Candice Millard. This is the story of Teddy Roosevelt’s journey down an uncharted river in South America after he lost the election for a third term in office. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Of course, you can develop your own system, but having two different books going at once works well for me.

Second, how should you read? I have one rule to help me read a lot: I always have a book with me. Whatever I’m reading, I take it with me everywhere, and I mean everywhere. You never know when you’re going to have a few minutes here or there to read. You can get a lot of reading done that way.

However you approach reading, make sure you read at least a few minutes every day. Those few minutes of filling your mind with good material will pay off hugely. After all, if you want to write books, you must first be a person who reads them.

Commandment #5: Write every day.

Now let’s get something clear for a moment. When I say the phrase, “Write every day,” it’s the kind of phrase where people ask, “Do you mean actually write every day?”

And yes, I mean write something every day. But what am I suggesting that you write? Here is my definition: write something that advances your goals as a writer. That can include material for your blog, book, podcast, or some other type of content that helps you reach your goals. But it can also be just writing in your journal.

Now, whether you include weekends, or whether you actually do it every day, is completely up to you. But I liken this to someone who is trying to live a healthy lifestyle. If you want to be healthy, you eat healthy every day, not just when you feel like it.

So the real question is, “How healthy do you want to be as a writer?” If you want to be in tip-top shape, I encourage you to write every day, preferably the first thing in the morning when your mind is fresh, before you have started checking email and getting into the details of the day.

Commandment #6: Edit what you write.

This is an easy step to skip because we feel pressed for time. We just want to get our work out there without the hassle of carefully reading it over, running it through editing software, or having someone else help us with editing.

I recently took my wife to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for our 25th wedding anniversary. It was the most expensive meal I’ve ever purchased. The bill was over $200 for two people, including the tip. But the service, the food, and the setting all reflected the fact that we were in a fancy restaurant.

On the other hand, I can think of times when I’ve gone through the McDonald’s drive-through and gotten a cheeseburger, and it was just thrown together in a hurry. Even though the contents of the burger might be fine, the presentation was not so great.

This is the difference between writing that has been edited and writing that hasn’t. When you edit your writing, you are taking care to make sure your grammar, punctuation, spelling, and overall content are as good as you can make it. It doesn’t necessarily mean you need to hire an editor for everything you write, but it does mean we should take the baseline steps to ensure that whatever we publish is excellent.

I recommend, at the very least, re-reading your material a couple of times and running your writing through Grammarly, as well as doing a spell-check. Those are free and very simple ways to improve your writing.

Commandment #7: Publish what you write.

I don’t necessarily mean publish every single thing you write. That’s not realistic. For example, I don’t publish anything from my personal journal. But if you write something you intend for other people to read, edit it and then publish it.

This may seem like a silly commandment. After all, why would someone write a blog post, podcast content, or even a whole book… and yet never publish it? The answer is that we get scared of what others will think. We believe it’s not good enough. We wonder if we have any talent to begin with.

I confess that I have done this. In fact, there are at least two full-length books I wrote a few years ago that have never seen the light of day. So, I’m working through that material now to try and figure out the best strategy for publishing it, or re-working it.

This is more common than you think. There are many people who have written screenplays, books, speeches, and other material that they simply didn’t publish. They ran out of steam and just gave up. It’s easy to do.

So, this is my challenge to take what you have written and publish it somewhere so that it can help others. You’ve heard that saying, “If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?” Here’s a related saying: “If you write a book but never publish it, does it have any value?”

Yes, there is some value in going through the exercise of writing. There is always value in writing, no matter what it is. But imagine how much more valuable your words can be if you publish them, if you give those words an opportunity to inspire, educate, or entertain others.

Commandment #8: Do what scares you.

Think about some of the important achievements in human history. These would include Amelia Earhart flying solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbing Mount Everest, Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon, Magellan setting sail around the world, and many thousands of others who faced their fears and took action anyway.

You and I are no different. We have challenges and scary things staring us right in the face every single day. You can probably think of something that intimidates you as a writer. Is it setting up a website? Publishing a book? Pitching an article to a large publication? Writing and publishing a short story?

Whatever is it, run toward it. If you want to do it, but you feel scared, that is your subconscious mind telling you it must be done, no matter how you feel about it.

If you only do what feels comfortable, you won’t make any progress. You won’t grow. Progress and growth are predicated on the act of doing what scares you. So, put on your big boy or big girl pants and start moving forward. You’ll figure it out as you go along. And as soon as you overcome this challenge, there will be a bigger one waiting just behind it.

Commandment #9: Learn from other successful writers.

When it comes to dealing with successful writers, we commonly have two different responses. 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 in 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.

Commandment #10. Teach what you know.

This is a corollary to the previous point about learning from other successful writers. In the same way, you must help other writers be more successful. There are plenty of people in your orbit who would love to achieve your level of success, whatever that might be.

Even if your only level of experience is starting a blog, there are plenty of writers who would love to learn how to do that. Don’t dismiss your skills just because they seem common. If you’ve taken time to build or create something, you can teach it to someone else.

It doesn’t mean you have to label yourself as a teacher or set yourself up as some big expert. It just means that you’re sharing what you have learned. You can do this on social media, your blog, an email newsletter, speaking engagements, and so many other ways.

A simple but powerful way to help other writers is to host a weekly mastermind call. I have been a part of a writer’s mastermind group for years. Each week, we meet on Zoom and talk about our successes and challenges. That weekly meeting has an amazing way of encouraging my spirit.

It also helps the other writers because they have challenges of their own. The whole idea of a mastermind is to bring together like-minded people to help each other solve your problems. I can’t begin to tell you how many times over the years that a mastermind has helped me push through a problem or obstacle.

And many times, the obstacle isn’t somewhere out there… it’s in my own head. I’m my own worst enemy. But when I help other people, it gets the focus off myself and reminds me that I do have some things to teach others. If you have a brain and you can write words, you can teach others.

There you have it: ten commandments for writers. Again, these are not unique to me. But having them collected like this can help you focus on what is most important in your growth as a writer.

Let’s review the list again:

• Commandment #1: Embrace your identity as a writer.
• Commandment #2: Don’t compare yourself to other writers.
• Commandment #3: Take action on what you learn.
• Commandment #4: Make time to read every day.
• Commandment #5: Write every day.
• Commandment #6: Edit what you write.
• Commandment #7: Publish what you write.
• Commandment #8: Do what scares you.
• Commandment #9: Learn from other successful writers.
• Commandment #10. Teach what you know.

I challenge you to choose two of these commandments and put them into practice over the next two weeks. Feel free to email me at kent@dailywriterlife.com. I’d love to hear about your success!

The post Ten Commandments for Writers appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.