7 Traits of Successful Authors: #7 When Success Looks Impossible

People often pledge to marry "for better or worse."  Keeping this pledge, when troubles intrude, becomes challenging. And yet, when a couple conquers hardships, a marriage strengthens and stabilizes.

Launching a writing career is not without its share of heartbreaks either. Rare is the writer who completes a successful manuscript the first time around. Considering the amount of time and effort it takes to write a novel, receiving rejection after rejection can make you want to quit. Critiques can help you grow as a writer but also reveal your shortcomings. With your self-confidence eroded, it's easy to want to throw in the towel.

Even after you sign a publishing contract, edits arrive to humble you.  What made you think you could write in the first place? Being passed over for an award or reading a punishing review of your work can make you think longingly of flipping burgers for a living.

Ask best-selling author, Laurie Alice Eakes. After the success of her award-winning debut novel, her career tanked for a year-and-a-half before she sold thirteen books in a single year. Did she write all those books in one year? No. She wrote four of them. The rest she'd written previously. If she had given up during the hard times, she wouldn't have enjoyed her banner year.

All of the traits I mentioned in this series are admirable, but none of them will help much if you can't stick it out, even when success looks impossible. Writing a book takes passion, commitment, focus, dedication,  self-confidence, humility, and above all, perseverance.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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