It's A Difference In Attitude

I love going to the major writing conferences. Why? I love to people watch. I can sit for hours in a hallway watching writers go by and carry on conversations. It is always during that time that I can see the writers that are successful or will be successful with their writing. At the same time, I can also see those that in no way will they every be successful. It is all in the attitude. Sure some of these writers that won't make it may have sold books, but their career is going to be limited.

I have found that those that are successful have a confidence and a "can do" attitude. In fact, you can often find that with individuals in any profession, sport or activity. There is this belief that they can do it if they stick to it. No, this is not an egotistical attitude, or a belief that they don't have to work with it. These individuals clearly know from the beginning that they are success stories.

For beginning writers, it is important to start working on that attitude early on in your career. No, there is no one exact way of accomplishing this - you have to figure that one out on your own. One thing for certain though is that developing this attitude is not a sometime activity and certainly not an activity that happens overnight. It takes work and it take practice.

Several years ago, I had a writer sign on with Greyhaus. I was attending a small conference and during prior to even meeting this author, I could see that she would be successful. Even though it was a working conference, she was still there in professional clothing. She asked intelligent questions of the guest speaker (it happened to be Cherry Adair). When she would enter a room, she walked with confidence and people around her respected the confidence. I should note though, she was young and there were certainly other writers around her that had been doing this for a while. Still, they respected her.

When we got to the pitch sessions the next day, she came in and blew me away with her presentation. She knew it was her first story but she knew what she wanted and she knew how she was going to get it. I asked for a full and eventually signed her. Sure the story was great, but that attitude got her a long way.

Now here is a twist, and certainly the downer of the whole thing. She lost that confidence. We submitted the story to a couple of editors and they turned it down. Not because the writing was bad but it was a matter of "bad timing." No problem, we were going to move on. But by then she had lost her momentum. She forgot that energy she felt when she walked into that conference months before. So she quit. That was a bummer.

While there may be some downer days when it comes to your writing career, it is important that you maintain not simply a positive attitude but a level of confidence that says you are just as good as the next writer. Some may be on best-seller lists but that doesn't make them any better or you any less.

Keep up the great attitude. Without it, your writing career is over before it gets started.