Written in Stone

Fiction Groupie currently has a great post up, modestly titled "The Ten Commandments of the Successful Author." They are blunt, funny, and right on the nose — most of it you already know, but it never hurts to hear it again. I'm just gonna share one of them with you here:

"6. Covet your neighbor's success.

A dose of envy does a writer good.There are all these posts out there about writer envy and jealousy telling you how you shouldn't waste time being envious of other writers and what they have, their level of success, etc.  Yes, that's true. If you spend all your time burning green, you won't get anything else done. BUT, a little bit of this can be helpful. So and so got an agent and you haven't yet? Your crit partner hit the bestseller list but you can't seem to? Feel that envy and USE it. Use it as kindling under your butt and light a fire to keep going, to get what you want, to grab that success too. Envy with motivation can be very productive. Envy with whining and no action is what you need to avoid."

– Fiction Groupie : The Ten Commandments of the Successful Author.

The whole list is definitely worth reading — maybe worth printing out and hanging up over your desk.  Go check them out.