By Max Everhart
I first began writing
seriously about nine years ago when I was working on a Master’s degree in
English, and almost every day between then and now, I’ve received and read
literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of tips on being a successful writer.
And almost all of them
were good.
Almost.
But the best advice I
ever read was from the novelist Richard Bach: “A professional writer is an
amateur writer who didn’t quit.”
Indeed.
Perseverance, in my
opinion, is the most important quality a writer can possess. Perseverance is
the ultimate trump card, and it’s far more important than talent or luck or
even connections in the publishing world, although all of those are wonderful
and certainly helpful. But perseverance is what is going to get a writer
to sit down and write. Everyday. No matter what.
Perseverance, it ain’t
sexy, but it’s powerful, especially if you are one of the chosen ones who have
talent.
And here’s the best
part: you’re not born with perseverance; it can be learned and developed. The
only real question you should ever ask yourself is, “How hard am I willing to
work to become a successful writer?”
Which brings me to my
debut novel Go Go Gato. I did some calculations and
figured out that by the time a publisher accepted that book in October of 2013,
I’d already written roughly 300,000 words of fiction, which didn’t include the
four or five stories that had been published in small journals and literary
magazines. (Note: I made no money on these stories). However, the 300,000
words did include twenty or so unpublished short stories and one full-length
novel that my wife, God bless her, correctly concluded was “not good at all.”
Now, all those
rejections I received from editors, agents, publishers, and even my wife were
painful, but the pain was useful. It was instructive. Those
rejections forced me to dig deeper, and I came to a sobering conclusion: I
wasn’t good enough, yet. Those editors, agents, publishers, and
yes, my wife, they were right to reject my work. Just as I was right to
work harder at my craft, to keep sending my best possible work out into the
world, and now, on August 1st, my dream of being a published
novelist will come true. Only took nine years. But it was worth
it.
Bottom line, we spend
time on the things we value most, so if you want to be a successful writer,
work hard, harder, hardest.
In a word:
persevere.
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