Write with a passion to communicate, not for money

Today is Sunday. After what was a warm and beautiful day yesterday, the weather has turned cold and grey. It seems that winter is not yet ready to let go of her grip on this part of Eastern Europe. How I long for the warmth and color of spring’s awakening. I guess I will have to wait a little longer for winter to be banished to the season to which she belongs.

Although there is much to appreciate about winter, I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed being forced back into the house with this sudden and unexpected cold snap. However, not all has been lost as I was able to catch up on a documentary about horse whisperer Gary Prince.

I checked out Gary on the Internet, but there was only a limited amount of information about him and his work. Nonetheless, what Gary had to say about horses and his connection with them got me thinking about my writing.

I’ve always loved animals, especially horses. As sophisticated as our society has become, there is still much that we can learn from the animal kingdom, not least how to connect with each other in a positive and meaningful way. And this was the point that Gary was trying to make during the documentary.

Gary’s unique connection with horses was born out of passion, a desire to connect with an animal of beauty and grace. Encouraged by his father, Gary learned how to ride at the age of three. Eventually, Gary’s natural riding ability took him into the competitive arena of horse dressage. It was here that he began to truly understand his gift of being able to communicate with horses. It came from within, a burning desire to be at one with a creature he had grown to love from a very early age. And herein is a lesson for all of us who are moved to become writers.

Passion, desire, connecting and understanding are words that all newbie writers should learn and comprehend before they set out on their writing career. All too often I come across newbie writers who enter the profession on the assumption that writing is a path to making money. It is not. Few, if any of us, ever reach the privileged position of earning a living from the articles or books we publish. At best, most of us can only hope to generate a little pocket change from the things we write about. So why do we write?

The reason why many of us write is that we have a passion and desire to connect with others. Just in the same way that Gary has a passion for connecting with horses, successful writers have a love for connecting with their audience.

If you are writing only to make money, then your audience will recognize that you are not in love with your chosen profession. They will quickly abandon you once they discover your writing lacks passion, much in the same way as a horse will throw its rider if the rider kicked it too hard with a set of sharp spurs!

Your success as a writer can never be measured in dollars or cents. It can only be measured by the number of people who actually read your material. It doesn’t matter whether you sell or you give away what you have written, the most essential part of writing must be your desire to connect with your readership.

Something magical occurs when you connect with others through your writing. That magic comes in the shape of an invisible bridge to your audience, a bridge that transcends space, time and place.

Ask yourself this question: Who are my favorite authors? The chances are that at least one of your favorite authors has long since passed on, leaving only their indelible thoughts to trickle down the passage way of time and into your hands. As a consequence, your favorite dead author’s success can never be measured by the sound of a cash register. They are simply no longer around to collect royalties or payment from their work.

The only way to measure a dead author’s success is by counting the number of people that their work has influenced since their demise. Many of the classic writers of the past knew this. However, their passion to communicate with others kept them at their desk long after their contemporaries had abandoned the writing profession from want of success through monetary gain. George Orwell’s ‘1984’ is a case in point.

When George Orwell wrote ‘1984’ he was dying, and he knew it. His motive for writing ‘1984’ had nothing to do with monetary gain but everything to do with communicating a message, a warning to audiences of the future about the perils of a totalitarian government . It is a message that continues to resonate with all freedom loving audiences of today. George Orwell was a writer with a passion to connect with others – a whisperer from the past still communicating with audiences long after his passing. Now that is what I call success!

Writer or Author: What is the difference?

I came across a blog about self-publishing today and found it very interesting and informative. The blog is called: A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing. I highly recommend visiting the blog if you are interested in e-publishing.

What made the blog such a riveting read was not such much the posts but the comments posted by visitors to the blog. I was particularly interested in the running debate between the blogger and an anonymous visitor over what constitutes a published author and what does not.

As a writer myself, not a novelist, I’ve always been intrigued by the traditionalists who insist on pursuing a pedantic view of authorship, and I thought I would share my opinions on the subject here.

The argument which was being put forward by the anonymous visitor was that you cannot be considered an author until you have had a book published in print and sold through a bookstore. If you are a writer of e-books only, then you cannot be considered a published author.

The reality is that the monopoly once exercised by traditional publishers has been broken by advances in publishing technology. Not since the days of William Caxton has the publishing world seen such a major revolution in how the written word is packaged and sold. We can either accept this revolutionary change, or we can deny it and go the way of the Luddite.

My personal feeling is that traditionalists are hanging onto some elitist notion that an author is someone who has had his or her work put into print and sold through a bookstore. Accordingly, a writer who falls outside this definition is not an author. This is something that I find hard to stomach since it smacks of pure snobbery, a defensive line followed by those who feel threatened by change.

We should not forget that before the Gutenberg Revolution, and the introduction of the movable type printing press, most of the known world was illiterate. The Gutenberg Revolution was the single most significant contributor to an improvement in literacy levels during the fifteenth century, which in turn led to substantial changes in the laws that had held men and women in medieval bondage for centuries. In effect, the Gutenberg Revolution was directly responsible for many of the freedoms which we now take for granted.

Before the onset of the Gutenberg Revolution, writers had to content themselves with handwritten manuscripts or woodblock press copies of their work. If we follow the line of reasoning advanced by the aforementioned anonymous visitor, then Homer (The Iliad), Virgil (Aeneid), Aurelius (Meditations) and countless others who wrote and published their handwritten work on vellum, papyrus, slate or stone are not authors but writers who have little to contribute to the world of literature. (Wow! I suppose that is one way of trashing a whole class of authorship. However, I wouldn’t recommend the anonymous visitor take his or her argument to an academic level. He or she might find themselves on the wrong end of a losing battle.)

Thanks to the Gutenberg Revolution mankind was able to enter a period of learning and enlightenment. Did the world benefit from this revolution? On the balance of historical evidence, I would have to say yes.

Perhaps we should also give thanks to this current revolution taking place in the publishing arena too, as it is pushing the envelope on how we communicate with each other. It is also forcing us towards a better understanding of the world in which we live.

Thanks to e-publishing, Joe and Jane Public have been given a platform through which they can express their thoughts, their opinions, and their ideas. In the same way that the Gutenberg Revolution broke the shackles of ignorance, e-publishing is breaking the notion that authorship is the reserve of an elitist few.

It matters little to me whether someone calls me an author or a writer. (I like the idea of being put in the same class as a Homer or a Virgil, if only!) The fact remains – I can write and publish my work on the Internet without validation or restriction from traditionalists who would keep the majority of us chained to the Dark Ages. Now that is what I call real freedom! The anonymous visitor can, therefore, retain the title of author. I’ll settle for the freedom to express myself as a writer through e-publishing.

Writing for Cash – The Myth and the Reality

If you are reading this article, then you are clearly interested in writing for money, or least given some thought to the idea. You have also no doubt researched the idea of writing for cash on the Internet and downloaded a handful of e-books or reports telling you how to turn your writing into a source of income.

Many of the e-books or reports you have read probably waxed lyrical about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that newbie and established writers are making from publishing their work on the Internet. Moreover, amongst all the hyperbole you will have come across testimonies testifying to the magic of a particular writing system. Some of these testimonies may contain an element of truth. However, what these testimonies fail to tell you is the fact that a majority of wannabe writers will not make a penny from their writing, no matter how great the writing system might be. This is understandable since the promoter of the writing system wants you to buy the product. So let us dispel the myth right now: not everyone can or will earn money from their writing.

There are several reasons why many wannabe writers never cut the mustard when it comes to turning their writing into cash. The most obvious reason is the lack of effort on the part of the wannabe writer to write effectively.

I recently came across several e-products where the author was trying to promote him or herself as a marketing or writing guru. Each of the texts that I read had potential but sadly most of them were littered with grammar and spelling mistakes. And whilst no one is perfect when it comes to the written word, I expected something a little better from those who were promoting themselves as leaders in their field.

Although not everyone can be a Hemmingway or a Stephen King, the least an author can do when they are trying to sell their writing for cash is to run a grammar and spell check over their work. Better still, they should learn a little about the art of writing before going to press.

If you are serious about making money from your writing, then be prepared to invest time, effort and energy to improve your skills as an author. It takes practise and a willingness to learn in order to become a proficient writer. The writing process merits respect from all those who are planning to make money from publishing their work.

The key to becoming a profitable writer rests in your ability to entertain and to captivate the reader through eloquent prose. If the reader is distracted because of too many spelling or grammatical errors in your work, then the reader will almost certainly go elsewhere for their reading material.

Once you have lost your reader because of bad spelling or grammar, then it is unlikely that he or she will come back to read the other material you have on offer. In short, to become a profitable writer you must approach the task of writing as you would any other profession – with due care and attention to detail.

Writing, like other professions, requires an understanding of your tools. Furthermore, you need to be proficient at using these tools if you want to become a successful author. You need to know how the written word works in terms of communicating ideas, excitement, tension and passion. Without this knowledge and the skill to use it you will fail to gain an audience for your written material.

At an elementary level, if you want to earn money from your writing, then you need to know how a sentence is constructed. You will also need to know how to use verb tenses to convey the appropriate sense of time and place. Once you have mastered the art of sentence structure, then you will need to learn how to stitch paragraphs together so that your writing comes across as a clear and coherent message.

There are plenty of resources on the Internet and in local libraries to help the budding writer master the art of writing. The local writing club or circle is a good place for writers to begin their career, not to mention a great place to exchange ideas with more experienced writers.

Writing clubs or circles present the wannabe writer with an opportunity to test their work and to gain feedback on what they have written. Constructive criticism from those in the know is always useful to anyone who is serious about improving their writing skills.

Learning to write is a lifelong process and one that should be encouraged. While there is money to be made from writing, not everyone can hope to make the grade as a profitable writer. However, this should not prevent you from trying, so long as you are willing to put in the effort.

Writing is an enjoyable pass time even if you do not make money from what you have written. You do not need to be a bestselling author to benefit from your prose. Writing is a skill that can enhance the quality of your life both at work and at play. So whilst you might be considering a career as a profitable writer, try to think of the other benefits that come with improving and developing your writing skills.

Creating your own personal roadmap to success

The desire for success, and the rewards it brings, is probably uppermost in many people’s minds. But how many of us actually follow a roadmap dedicated to achieving that success? The answer is probably not many. We are all too busy being distracted or are just simply following a roadmap that someone else has given to us.

Some of us experience a modicum of success doing what comes naturally. However, there are many more of us who are not so lucky when it comes to succeeding in life. We have to make a conscious effort to plan for our success. I am one such person.

Many years ago my tutor and classmates laughed at me when I told them that my ambition was to become a teacher. My tutor was even so kind as to point out to me that I was a lazy scholar and was unlikely to gain the necessary qualifications required to join the teaching profession.

My tutor’s statement was born out of my lack of effort in the classroom. I was, indeed, a lazy student. I was probably the laziest student that my tutor had had the misfortune to teach.

In my tutor’s opinion I would never achieve profession status. At best, all I could hope for was a job sweeping roads. His words were harsh and bitter to hear. They certainly had a negative impact on me as a person. Any ambition I harboured of becoming a teacher was crushed that day. After all, my tutor was a person in authority and he knew best, or so I thought.

My tutor had basically handed me a roadmap to failure. But that was forty years ago, and today I am a teacher with my own communications training company (school). So what happened to prove my tutor and my classmates wrong?

Well, after all the trials, mishaps and unlucky breaks that most of us encounter during our working life, I finally stumbled on a roadmap that would help me achieve my ambition. Yes, I still had to work hard to reach my goal but the effort was made that much easier because of the discovery of my personal roadmap to success.

Finding my personal roadmap to success came about out of desperation rather than luck or design. It was about twenty years ago and I was experiencing yet another bout of unemployment. There had been too many bouts of unemployment during my early career, and my tutor’s idea of how my life would pan out was proving to be correct. But then I had a young family to feed and I could ill afford to be out of work every six months. I therefore decided to do something about it.

With time on my hands I began to read. I read books on self motivation techniques, self analysis and on how to improve my career prospects.

One of the things that I discovered about myself during this period of enforced reflection was my thirst for knowledge in relation to people and how and what they communicate. The fire of ambition extinguished during my school days had been re-ignited.

Although the flame of ambition burned bright, the goal I set myself was a tough one. My academic qualifications were not good enough for me to become a teacher and that meant I would have to go back to school. Not an easy thing to do when you have a young family to feed. Nonetheless, I was going to try.

The first thing I needed to do was to analyse why I wanted to become a teacher. I came up with some very interesting notions before finally settling on the real reason behind my ambition. I love to share ideas with others and by becoming a teacher I would be able to do just that.

Analysing the reasons behind my ambition was not enough. I needed to do more if I wanted to achieve my goal. A starting point was required, so I put together a five step process that would help me. Here is the five step process:

1. Wrote down my goal and analysed the drive behind reaching that goal
2. Carried out an audit of my life skills
3. Listed my qualifications and experiences
4. Analysed the gaps between my life skills, qualifications and experiences, and my goal
5. Created a plan based on my gap analysis

Only by following the five steps could I hope to understand what my skills, qualifications and experience were in relation to what was needed to become a teacher. The five steps showed me the route I should take, which made planning that much easier. In essence, the five step process empowered me towards creating my own personal roadmap to success.

Not only did I go back to school, but I also took five years out from fulltime employment to study at college and university. It was the most important, productive and enjoyable five years of my life. During that time I was able to elaborate on my roadmap to success. I decided that I would never again suffer unemployment. I would create my own employment by building a school dedicated to helping others to communicate effectively.

Today, my company trains approximately one hundred business executives every year on how to communicate effectively with their peers and employees.

Naturally, achieving my ambition was not all plain sailing. There were moments of elation as there were many moments of disappointments. However, the most important part of my journey to success was the roadmap that I had created for myself. It allowed for disappointments and gave credit where and when it was due. No more would I allow others to dictate my future. I would control my own destiny - health and natural causes permitting.

For anyone who has a problem discovering their own personal roadmap to success, I have this advice: Take the timeout to test the five steps outlined in this article. You will find the process edifying. It may even lead you in another direction to the one you are following at the moment. And give yourself credit for what you have already achieved. Only by understanding yourself and your unique abilities can you hope to create your own personal roadmap to success.