5 Stupid Mistakes I Made Becoming A #1 Bestselling Author
Sleep-deprived and knee-deep in diapers and baby spit-up, I wondered what the hell I was thinking, agreeing to deliver three books in three years to my publisher.
It seemed like a great idea at the time; I'd just won a novel-writing award (which led to said three-book deal), my content writing business was running smoothly, and baby number one had just started sleeping through the night.
Finally, I was making it as a 'professional writer'.
I was feeling like superwoman - until I wasn't:
Baby number two arrived and didn't like sleeping at all
I signed too many contracts with my content business
Writing a second book is much more challenging than writing the first.
Signing that three-book deal was beginning to feel like a huge mistake.
Becoming a number one bestselling author wasn't easy - in fact, I almost quit.
But some of my most common mistakes were why I actually succeeded.
I wrote to the point of exhaustion and burnt out
I had a daily word count target and I was determined to stick to it.
Looking back, on some days, I was probably better off taking a nap.
Writing to the point of exhaustion leads to common grammar mistakes and losing track of the small details. I was mixing up characters and making silly mistakes.
When I took a break for a week, my creativity improved dramatically and I started to produce my best work on the first draft rather than having to edit the same page repeatedly.
I panicked with the second novel
Next time you read a second novel by an author, keep in mind that they most likely lost a part of their soul during the process.
It's often cited that writing the second book is harder - known as second book syndrome - and I can confirm it's true.
Your ideas seem to vanish and your self-confidence disappears - you begin to wonder if you know the English language at all.
Of course, that's not the case - it just feels like that because of the additional (self-imposed) pressure. The only thing I could do was put in my best effort and focus on what I could control.
I wasted weeks on writing without direction
The tight deadlines panicked me so much that the only way I felt like I could finish in time was to write furiously.
I didn't have the time to plan, though I know outlining is the best way for me to approach a book. Instead,I tried to take a shortcut.
As you can imagine, I had to go back and correct a lot of dumb mistakes which took even more time than if I'd just planned properly in the first place.
I changed the focus of my writing from creativity and pleasure to ‘a job’
I loved the different titles of 'writer' versus 'published author'.
But smart people know that titles mean very little; however, I turned it into something very serious and professional and started talking about things like a sales meeting, target audience, and ‘writing to market’, which briefly led me to losing some joy in the process.
Once I let go of the material goals and focused more on the writing, I was happier and my work started to feel more authentic.
I submitted something when I knew (deep down) it wasn’t ready
At one point, I was so eager to get a manuscript off my plate and make it someone else's responsibility that I submitted it when I was only 99% happy with it.
As soon as I hit send, it knew the next steps were going to be challenging.
And I was right. The amount of feedback that came back was overwhelming and I spent a lot of time working through it.
A tough but necessary lesson to learn - always send in your best work, if only for your own peace of mind.
These are just a few of the many mistakes I made, and while they were tough lessons, they were a huge part of my success.
