THERE IS NO WRITING FOUR-LEAF CLOVER (photo Pixabay.com)
I keep studying the craft of writing. Every day. I even attended another writers’ conference last week … the Rochester Writers’ Spring Conference at Oakland University … trying to learn more about the social media aspects of marketing my work.
Took a lot of notes. Met some interesting people. Learned a hell of a lot more than I expected to.
It was a good conference.
Still, there are a lot of people who wonder why I bother. They know I’ve published fiction … and they also know it was a good thing I had a career beforehand. Writing is a tough business.
It often seems like success is handed to the “lucky” ones.
You know, the ones everyone thinks have been blessed with deep pockets, the right connections, or some form of magical God-given talent the rest of us were not in the right line to receive.
Wouldn’t it be nice to think success is something more … something you have some control over?
Surprise. It is.
It’s about talent, sure. But it’s something else, too.
It’s called grit.
Grit Scale
Did you know there’s actually a Grit Scale? It was developed by a Ph.D. psychology researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. You can take it yourself and see how you rate.
Even more surprising than finding out there is such a scale are the researcher’s findings: Grit trumps talent, IQ and aptitude as the top predictor of achievement. It’s the quality that turns a little engine that could into the little engine that does.
Does that apply to being a writer? Of course it does.
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Painting With Light 