Weekend Reading: Writing Success

Writing Success

For this week's "weekend reading" collection, let's talk about writing success. What does it take to be a successful writer? What does "writing success" even mean to you? And is success something we ever truly achieve, or will we always crave something more?

These questions are tackled in the posts below. Don't forget to leave a comment and share your thoughts about what writing success means to you, and how you're going about reaching it.

Enjoy!

What is Writing "Success?"

By Lynette Noni at LynetteNoni.com

Let's kick things off with the big question: What does "writing success" really mean anyway? Noni points out that success is something we have to define for ourselves, and she offers ten examples of what "writing success" might mean to you.

Read the post.

Designing Your Writing Career

By Holly Lisle at HollyLisle.com

Lisle talks about achieving success as an author by modeling your career after other living writers who have achieved the kind of career you would like. She emphasizes the importance of planning, and not assuming you'll fall into success. As a big planner and scheduler myself, I can appreciate this perspective, especially when she points out that while planning is important, flexibility is equally so.

Read the post.

The Futility of Chasing a "Successful" Writing Career

By Michelle Dean at FlavorWire.com

Dean reflects on her own brushes with success, at least as it's defined by others. She brings up the excellent point of success not being some static metric. Our definition, and those of people around us, can change over time. As we reach one measure of success, we often set our sights higher, still comparing ourselves to the more "successful" around us. Good food for thought.

Read the post.

What would it mean for you to have a successful writing career? Would it involve landing a certain dream client? Getting a major publishing deal? Reaching a certain number of readers for your blog? Or even just seeing your first book in print? Leave a comment and tell me about it, including how your definition of success might have changed over time.

Jennifer Mattern is a professional blogger, freelance business writer, consultant, and indie author. She runs numerous websites & blogs including All Freelance Writing, Freelance Writing Pros, NakedPR, and Kiss My Biz.

Jenn has over 20 years' experience as a professional writer and editor and over 20 years' experience in marketing and PR (working heavily in digital PR, online marketing, social media, SEO, new media, and thought leadership publication). She also has 19 years' professional blogging and web publishing experience (including web development) and around 17 years of experience as an indie author / publisher.

Jenn also writes fiction under multiple pen names and is an Active member of the Horror Writers Association.

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