The first five C words in the new model for becoming a successful writer in the digital age are Content, Clarity, Communication, Contentpreneuring, and Commitment. The last word is Celebration.
6. Celebration
The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
–Oprah Winfrey
Speaker and author Roger Crawford says that every day he wakes up and there’s not a white chalk line around his body is a great day. Most of us have more reasons to celebrate than we take the time to do it.
- Being alive
- having a subject or story you’re passionate about
- being able to write
- finding the time to do it
- reaching readers around the world with your fingertips
- having more ways to get published, promote your work, and profit from it than ever
These are all reasons to jump up and
down and shout hurrah. So celebrate achievements, large and small, with those
who help you on a scale with what you accomplish. The prospect of celebrating
will help keep you going. Add luck to the six Cs, and your books will be
fail-proof.
Two bonuses: you can adapt this model for other professions and your personal life.
Content, Clarity, Communication, Contentpreneuring, Commitment, and Celebration. Those are “The 6 Cs for Becoming a Successful Author in the Digital Age.” You’ll need all of them to succeed as an author and a human being.
After forty-four years as a publishing executive, reviewer, author, speaker, teacher, agent, and co-director of a conference, this is what I know that can help you. It’s been said that we teach
what we want to learn. I wish I had known and followed this advice when it could have made me the best writer I could have been.
Now this is not an excuse you can use. I hope you will find it worth referring to when you need encouragement. If it convinces you that writing is not your calling, it liberates you to find what is. But I hope writing is your passion. The world will never have too many good ideas or writers. Readers will welcome you the moment you’re ready to inform, enlighten, inspire, or entertain them.
Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand—and melting like a snowflake.
–Sir Francis Bacon
Onward!
This model draws on material from previous posts and my books How to Write a Book Proposal and How to Get a Literary Agent. The six Cs will continue to evolve, in part because of your response to them, for which I will be grateful.
I write the blog to help you and me understand what we need to know about writing, publishing, promotion, and agents. Rants, comments, and questions welcome.
The 9th San Francisco Writers Conference / A Celebration of Craft, Commerce & Community / February 16-20, 2012 / www.sfwriters.org / sfwriterscon@aol.com / http://sfwriters.org/blog / @SFWC / 1029 Jones Street / San Francisco, 94109 / www.facebook.com/SanFranciscoWritersConference / 415-673-0939 / San Francisco Writers University / Where Writers Meet and You Learn / Laurie McLean, Dean / free classes / www.sfwritersu.com / sfwritersu@gmail.com / @SFWritersU
Michael Larsen is a literary agent and consultant to nonfiction writers. He and his partner Elizabeth Pomada are co-directors of the San Francisco Writers Conference and the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference.
