Some people seem to have all the luck. They are the ones who don't have enough rejection slips to paper their whole office. They are the ones who sit down to write a book and words flow as if by magic into their brains, through their fingers and into their computer. The computer shoots 55,000 words or so off to a publisher, who offers a six-figure advance, and soon the author appears at book signings and on TV talk shows.
Most of us find that writing is hard work. It challenges our intellect, our physical stamina, makes us doubt ourselves. We wonder if we have the talent to write or the ability to discipline ourselves. Many of us are procrastinators. We have a story in mind that we want to pitch, a quota that we have set for ourselves, or an assignment with a deadline, and we find reasons to stall. Before we begin writing we need to take the garbage out, go to the grocery store, call our mother, or clean the bathroom.
Most successful writers have become published once, twice, maybe hundreds of times because they know the importance of one word: persistence. They set goals for themselves and they persist in pursuing those goals relentlessly. If their goal is to write for four hours or to write 1,000 words each day, they let nothing distract them from that goal. If their goal is to send out five queries each day they get the job done. They let nothing get in the way of meeting their goals.
Writers must develop thick skins. When their ideas get rejected (and they will) successful writers toss the rejection slip or delete the disappointing email and learn something from the rejection. They reread their query or manuscript to see how they can make it better. Then they immediately send it to the next prospective publisher on the list that they have at hand.
