Simply getting started might be the most important factor in becoming a great author. I list it as a good second.
The numbers of people who dream about becoming an author but actually never do anything to make that dream come true is probably in the millions. So, I don’t want to neglect the point that to succeed you must first start, but that’s not what’s going to set you apart from the hundreds of thousands of people who do actually set pen to paper and write a few chapters.
The number one factor in becoming successful in writing is persistence.
The best talent in the world is of little value if one doesn’t use it.
The best teachers and instructors in the world can do little for someone who throws down the pen or the tablet and gives up when the going gets tough.
Persistence is a virtue that gets little limelight in most success stories. It’s usually mentioned but it is glossed over as something quite inconsequential and unimportant.
Persistence doesn’t make for a dramatic story or a rags-to-riches headline. The fact that the majority of successful authors spent years getting to the winning circle is casually referred to as “paying one’s dues” or some other soft soap platitude that little describes the frustration, desperation, and agony of staying with writing day in and day out.
Still, persistence is powerful.
It is the determinative glue that takes a writer with mild talent to great. With enough stick-to-it gumption a writer will find a way to become better in his or her writing efforts. Continuing to study, practice, and learn opens the doors to creating a book that is worth the reader’s time to open.
Of course, blind, unthinking persistence is stupid.
Simply doing something over and over that isn’t working is not persistence but stubbornness. But with a dream to become a writer, a great writer, and armed with the persistence to do whatever it takes to get there is the winning ingredient for all success.
