Financial guru Suze Orman once said, “If you want to get out of debt, you must get more enjoyment out of saving your money than you do spending your money.”
I love that. I love the idea that we can choose what we get enjoyment from, and I think she’s right.
Let’s take what she said and tweak it for writers.
“If you want to succeed as an author, you must get more enjoyment out of serving your audience than you do landing book deals.”
“If you want to experience success as an author, you must get more enjoyment out of writing than you do getting fat royalty checks.”
“If you want to get out of the malaise you’re currently in, writer, you must get more enjoyment out of doing your art than you do receiving attention.”
Our Honor and Privilege
Often writers focus on landing a book deal or getting a big check or receiving good reviews. All of these are important and definitely worth pursuing.
The problem comes when we focus on these objectives at the expense of other equally important ones. Like simply serving our audience.
Think about this for a second. You have access to a worldwide audience through digital media—an absolutely unheard-of opportunity just thirty years ago.
The fact that you have access to millions of people via the internet is a massive gift, a privilege no previous generation ever thought possible.
And what do we do? We squander it. “Yeah, but how do I get an agent?” we say.
How to Enjoy Your Writing Life More Than Ever
What if we chose to derive enjoyment from simply showing up for our audience?
What if what we enjoyed was not positive responses from agents and publishers but hitting “publish” on a new blog post or video or podcast?
What if winning was not getting a check in the mail but hitting “send” on an email to the people who want to hear from us.
What if we celebrated hitting our writing goal every day for six months with as much fanfare as we do a book launch?
Albert Einstein said, “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”
Listen, the way to receive adulation and big checks and book contracts is often—not always, but definitely more often than not—to show up, serve your audience, and hit “send” or “publish” over and over again.
How We Can Rewire Our Brains
So how do we do this? How do we shift our perspective so that we’re getting intense enjoyment from simply serving our tribe? I have three ideas for you.
- Start with action.
Often the hardest part of a tough task is the before part. Once we’re actually doing whatever we dreaded, it’s not so bad. In fact, we may not want to admit it, but often the doing becomes at least mildly amusing, if not fun.
- Reward yourself.
Seriously. What would be a meaningful reward? Going to a movie some afternoon? Asking a friend to teach you how to make a dish or cocktail? Buying a new book? A trip to Chicago? Whatever it is, this is important. If you hit a goal, it is mandatory that you celebrate. Who says? You. Your future self is begging you.
- Team up with a buddy.
I used to hate the word accountability because it made me feel like I was three, like I needed someone supervising me every second.
That’s why I don’t think of it this way anymore. I think of accountability as being on a journey with a pal. More often than not, if I’m going on a trip, I’d much rather have a buddy along than go it alone.
Why should my writing journey be any different? Why should yours?
One more thing. Your enjoyment is not selfish. I know someone reading this is thinking that. Why should my focus be on having a good time? Listen, here’s the truth: if you don’t find a way to enjoy your art, you’ll either quit or you won’t do it as well.
Is it going to be roses and sunshine all the time? No, no it’s not. But if we can begin to shift our thinking so that we derive joy from doing our art, we’ll be able to help a lot more people. Stephen King said, “If you can do it for the joy, you can do it forever.”
Do it for the joy of doing it. That’s what you need, and that’s what we need from you.
What action do you need to take to get more joy out of your writing?
I LOVE writing and don’t have much trouble getting motivated – it’s the marketing, etc. that I’m really struggling with. At some point I’ll just have to sit down and do it – and yes, you’re right – once you start, it really isn’t that bad!
Excellent! Remember that the marketing (sending emails and social shares, for example) is also a crucial part of serving your audience!
I know, I know, I know! Yuck. 😉 I DO email out the blog posts twice a week, share other things on FB on non-blog post days, etc. I’d rather just hide in a cave and write, but I’m sure that’s typical. Thanks for a great article, by the way!
You’re very welcome!
It’s so true about rewarding ourselves. I’m an elementary teacher as well as a writer, and it is very obvious how the learning slumps when there is no gratification from doing the work. I would love to set up some goals and rewards to help motivate my writing.
What other ideas do you (and your readers) have for rewards?
Rewards: Enjoying a good book by a favorite author, taking a walk, setting aside time for a hobby.
I’ve seen writers reward themselves with meals, products (nice headphones, for example), trips, massages, retreats, the list goes on and on. Thanks for commenting, Shanna!
I’m feeling chatty today, I guess.
We need your post today. Thank you.
I started reading your blog post and almost immediately said “yes”:
“If you want to succeed as an author, you must get more enjoyment out of serving your audience than you do landing book deals.”
“If you want to get out of the malaise you’re currently in, writer, you
must get more enjoyment out of doing your art than you do receiving attention.”
But, as Janet Petersen says, “What is very hard (yes!) is to do YES.” (A Book of Yes, 1976)
I’m hearing a lot these days about “serving our audience.” Your words here speak to the first step of how to serve:
What if we chose to derive enjoyment from simply showing up for our audience?
Love these specific ideas:
“hitting ‘publish’ on a new blog post…”
“hitting ‘send” on an email to the people who want to hear from us”
“celebrat[ing] hitting our writing goal every day…”
and the Albert Einstein quote ?
Yes, it takes a new perspective. That’s what I’m writing about today in my book on active rest in our daily lives. The shift in perspective, for me, results in realizing I’ve already achieved some things; I already experience a “blessed life.”
1. Yes. I dread strength training. Once I get started, it’s not so bad. By the time I finish, I feel a sense of accomplishment.
2. I’ll add to the “reward” comment: when I was teaching, we wanted students to seek and develop intrinsic rewards, learning for the sake of learning and internal rewards, not tangible external goals, such as a grade.
3. Yes, that journey with a pal is crucial. Without it, we will go Nowhere. It’s much more enjoyable to write with others.
Tracie, chat away! Thanks so much for engaging!
I am in a new season where I am expected to bring in a specific dollar amount for my writing/editing work (or get a “real” job—LOL!), and I can’t seem to figure out where to put my focus. So, I am dabbling in a bit of everything (except writing, it seems), and feeling like I’m accomplishing nothing. I have a blog that I am re-purposing; a new, service-oriented website that needs design help; my first book (a short Advent devotional) being formatted and edited for release next month; and intermittent freelance work through Upwork. Instead of feeling joyful about writing, I feel overwhelmed and confused. I want to make money writing because I love writing, and it’s been a dream to get to this point. I just don’t know how to make enough money fast enough to prove that I can really do this, and not have to give it up for a regular job.
Wow, Aimee, thanks for commenting, I really appreciate your vulnerability here! I’ll give you one piece of advice and a resource to check out. The advice is this: grow your email list. Nothing monetizes faster than an email list. There are lots of different ways to monetize a list, but the first step is to grow one. Second, you might find Jonathan Milligan’s content helpful to you. In fact, here’s a link to a PDF he just released on becoming a six-figure blogger: https://el2.convertkit-mail.com/c/p9u6538gwi9hl7r2x/m2h7h5hn4px0p/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZW1iZXJzLmJsb2dnaW5neW91cnBhc3Npb24uY29tL2EvODQxMi9EY3lSaHprNQ==
Albert Einstein said, “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” I think in today’s society, people measure success by how much money they have in the bank; how many cars are parked on the drive way and how many overseas holidays they take each year. Writing – good writing – is a way to become people of value because our words have power in them that can influence others in the way they think and behave. Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if we tried to become people of value, rather than chasing dreams of success?
Sure would! Thanks for commenting, Pauline.
Friends keep asking me when I’ll get my book published. I’m not sure they’ll understand when I tell them I’m focused on serving my audience. Would you have a suggestion for a better response?
Tell them they can watch your book-in-progress by subscribing to your blog!
Perfect! 🙂