![]() by Christine Liu-Perkins How you define success will impact how happy you are as a writer. It will influence what motivates you and where you focus your energies. What do you consider markers for your success? My sense of success as a children's writer has changed over time. When I first started, I was thrilled just to play around with ideas and capture them in a draft. Then I moved to seeking publication. I celebrated milestones along the way: personalized rejection letters! requests for rewrites! publication in children's magazines! book contracts! But I also thought more than once about quitting – was I beating my head against a wall? Was it worth the frustration and disappointment? Fellow critiquers were publishing, and although I was genuinely happy for my friends, I just wanted the same for me. I felt immense relief from the pressure to prove myself when my first book was accepted. At this point, I'm happy concentrating on two things. One, I love doing research. (Confession: I chose to specialize in nonfiction when I realized that, whatever I was writing, I always looked for excuses to do research.) Two, I choose projects that hopefully will inspire readers to love learning and to understand others better. Two perspectives I found helpful are:
If you're ready to ponder how you define success as a writer, here are some articles that might help:
6 Comments
7/22/2020 07:30:17 am
Thank you for this important food for thought! There's a line from an old song that always comes to mind when I think about this idea..."the expectations you have lead down that path to where the devil discouragement lives." I think if we can be happy in what we're doing, that's success!
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7/22/2020 03:50:25 pm
Beth, I like that lyric and your idea of success! Thanks for sharing them.
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7/31/2020 09:00:28 pm
You're welcome, Kathy. I hope you're celebrating your writing successes!
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7/29/2020 11:30:50 am
I love your ideas about success too. Research is so much fun! And I love the idea that something I wrote could have a positive impact on a child. That is important to me and the very reason I started writing in the first place. It's been a journey and I'm still very much on the long and bumpy road...but it's good. And one day I will get an agent and it will be even better. #positivethoughts #keepontrucking #writewritewrite #coffee
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7/31/2020 09:02:33 pm
Wishing for you an impact on many children, Sloane!
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