What Does Impact Look Like To You?

Sometimes as a writer it’s hard to know how much impact your words are having in the world. After all, how do you monitor ‘impact’ – by sales figures, fan mail, awards, the number of stories you’ve published, Twitter follower figures, or something else?

I like to think of it in terms of whether my words are enabling me to do what I want to do in life. Right now I’m lucky enough to run a successful creative support business, which keeps me busy five days a week with editing, proofreading, book layouts, websites, giving talks, teaching, mentoring and tutoring. I also get to spend a few hours a day on my own writing, as well as spend time with my children, and even raise money for charity. My words enable me to do all that because of the impact they have. Since I’ve won over a dozen national awards, other writers want to learn from me in talks and classes, tutoring or mentoring; others want to hire me to help them make their own impact. Since readers enjoy my stories, they recommend them to others and send me emails like the one I got this week:

Zena,

I finished your book ‘Towards White’ last weekend

I really enjoyed it – you’re not bad