Excitement as the Secret to Success

David Farland's Writing Tip for this week offers a simple hint for how to increase your productivity as a writer. For him, he says the key to getting a lot of writing done is simply to be exciting about what your writing. It sounds simple, but actually, for many writers it's easier to be discouraged than it is to be excited. So how do we cultivate excitement? Farland offers three tips:

1. Blot out negative thinking. This is the big one, I think. Like I said, it seems like it's way easier to be discouraged than to be excited. Writers feel inadequate, inexperienced, unprepared, and under-resourced when it comes to the task of writing something great. And when those fears turn into negative thinking, it's hard to be excited. So relentlessly get rid of all that negative self-talk!
2. Accept your flaws. One of the most helpful things I discovered as I began to write stories is that first drafts are universally terrible. Seriously. Go find an author who has posted a first draft; even better, one that lets you compare a first draft to the final published work. Even professional writers don't create beautiful prose the first time around. So why would you expect anything different from yourself?
3. Cultivate excitement. In other words, figure out what makes you excited. Is it imagining how your readers will react to your story? Focus on that. Is it picturing the money you might make, the awards you might win, or the changes it might bring to your life? Keep those thoughts at the front of your mind as you write. Maybe it's just talking with friends or family about your story. But whatever it is that helps you get excited, keep that at the forefront of your mind.

I hope you find these tips as helpful as I did. And if you'd like more of the same, be sure and subscribe to David Farland's Writing Tips, which get delivered weekly via E-mail. And thanks for reading!