In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell says that in order to be truly world class at whatever it is that you do, you need to spend at least 10,000 hours practicing or honing your craft.
To make that number more tangible, those 10,000 hours equal approximately four years of working full time. Can you imagine having to work on books for four years straight to be successful? Truthfully, for some, it does take that long to write a book that will sell, but for others the process can happen much more quickly.
Does that mean you shouldn't try to log those hours? Not at all. I think the most important point to remember here is whether it takes you a hundred hours to write and sell that book or ten thousand hours, you are constantly improving. The more you write, the better you'll be at it. With each book you complete, your skill level rises. So the more hours you can commit to putting your rear end in your chair and getting your hands on your keyboard, the better off you'll be in the long run.
Next time, we'll talk about hobby vs. career. See you then, and good luck!
ps. Remember -- if you have a question about the craft of writing, or something industry related, let me know and I'll answer you in one of the Tuesday posts!
No comments:
Post a Comment