Writing is hard work.  Did you just say, “Well, duh”?

Yet, it’s a skill and the more we write, the easier it becomes.  Actually, the more we write, the more we’ll want to write.

Reality check:  On TV and in the movies, writers always have perfect hair and make-up and have editors clamoring for their yet-to-be-finished Pulitzers.  Truth be told? Most of the time, our backsides are stuck to a typing chair with bleary eyes focused on a monitor. So much for the glamour, right?

If you’ve read Ralph Keyes’s The Courage to Write, you already know that all writers struggled.  You are not alone.

To make it a bit easier, here’s a handy-dandy list of ways to become a happy and successful writer.  Not only do I teach this, but I live it.

• To make it as a writer…write.  “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on,” counseled Louis L’Amour.
• Read every day.
• To make it as a writer…Develop and maintain a positive attitude.
• To make it as a writer…Listen.
• To make it as a writer…Be selective with whom you share your emerging work.
• To make it as a writer…Take risks, try new genres.  Beatrix Potter said, “There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.”
• To make it as a writer…Attend writer’s conferences, workshops, author events.
• To make it as a writer…Tell others you’re a writer.
• To make it as a writer…Learn the rules before you break them and that includes the law of good grammar.
• To make it as a writer…Write about your passions and with passion.
• To make it as a writer…Learn, take classes, study your craft.
• To make it as a writer…Visualize the success you want.
• To make it as a writer…Be honest in your business and life.  If you want to be persuasive, you have to start from within yourself. You cannot build the bricks of credibility without the cement of honesty.
• To make it as a writer…Write from your heart and head.
• To make it as a writer…Be prepared.
• To make it as a writer…Become a resource for others.
• To make it as a writer…Look and act in a professional way.
• To make it as a writer…Say what you’ll do and do what you say.
• To make it as a writer…Be prompt.
• To make it as a writer…Understand the power of the question.
• To make it as a writer…Don’t put down the competition.
• To make it as a writer…Set achievable goals.
• To make it as a writer…Follow up and then do it again.
• To make it as a writer…Treat others as you’d like to be treated.
• To make it as a writer…Trust others.
• To make it as a writer…Evaluate yourself every month.
• To make it as a writer…Don’t blame others when it’s your fault.
• To make it as a writer…Understand that hard work makes luck.  “Luck is not chance, it’s toil; fortune’s expensive smile is earned,” said poet Emily Dickenson.
• To make it as a writer…Develop a strong work ethic.  Don’t know how? Read some books or articles on entrepreneurship.
• To make it as a writer…Laugh.  If you’re too busy to laugh, you’re too busy.
• To make it as a writer…Be easy to work with.
• To make it as a writer…Be a duck.  Look cool and calm on the top but be willing to paddle like all get out to go where you want.
• To make it as a writer…Don’t keep score.
• To make it as a writer…Read one book on creativity every month.
• To make it as a writer…Be memorable.
• To make it as a writer…Smile, even at times when you’d prefer a good frown.  Besides a smile will either warm the hearts of people you find annoying or upset them.  Either way you win.
• To make it as a writer…Count your blessings.  At least you know the joy of a creative life.
• To make it as a writer…Create the future you desire.
• To make it as a writer…Work as if everything depends on you but trust as if everything depends on God.