Success as a Professional Writer by Practicing Restrained Creativity — OnlineStance

I knew I wanted to be a writer before I realized I wanted to be a professional writer.

It was the first activity I drew and, years later, it is still my top priority.

However, most people write with some degree of ability, and for many, being a professional writer seems like a finished job. A job that happens like magic. or by chance.

A one-in-a-million scenario where your writing gets popular. As you know, the desperate aspiration to “spread the virus”.

In fact, when the opposite is true.

There is no magic. It’s no coincidence. No random luck.

If you want to become a professional writer, every choice must be made deliberately and deliberately.

If you are a professional writer you can sell your skill here.

Professional writers do not value creative ideas.

Creating is part of our nature. We want to make We want innovation. It’s fun and makes us feel alive. We are creators.

That doesn’t mean we’re actually reaching our goals.

because we are talking We are also speakers. And the more often you tell the story, the less successful you are.

Although not always, when someone is preoccupied with talking about great creative ideas, they tend to neglect nurturing, developing, and executing them over time.

That’s why the creative concept alone bore me.

Show me your strategy.

Strategy activates creativity for a professional writer

Disciplined creativity provides the care and conditions needed for ideas to mature.

• It’s time to go crazy.
• Time to focus.
• Time to take action.
• Break time.
• Balance leads to development.

Working as a professional writer requires the confidence to start your next project quickly with the same high level of creative energy as training to complete your writing assignments on time.

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I’ve been using the term disciplined creativity over the years, but without explicitly explaining what it means. until now.

What does disciplined creativity look like?

Below is a brief ten-part manifesto on Disciplined Creativity needed to become a professional writer.

1. Promise your own production schedule

The first rule of disciplined creativity is follow-up.

Your ability to follow your responsibilities depends on taming your rough side and devoting yourself to excellence.

Creative work often doesn’t “look like work”, so it’s important to follow your own production schedule.

That way, it doesn’t matter if your daily routine doesn’t seem like work to others. Whether it’s an assignment for a client or your own writing project for a website, we know you’re doing what you’re trying to do.

A serious professional writer makes no excuses to inconvenience others or disappoint his audience.

2. Juggling multiple writing projects (professional writer)

This section is about gaining momentum.

What if you need to focus on your follow-up skills, but feel trapped if you’re only working on one creative project at a time?

You get frustrated and if you dare, you get interrupted by the professional writer.

If you describe multiple topics for different writing projects, they usually stand out as the easiest to write on. Start there.

It may not always be the first task you need to complete the above-mentioned production schedule, but you can use that theme to warm up your brain and then turn it into an urgent deadline.

3. Establish a routine

Because our creative process is not independent of the rest of our lives, our other routines can have a direct impact on our creativity, although sometimes it seems mundane.

Consider the old adage.

How to do anything is how to do everything.

So what do you nurture for the rest of your life?

You can do something like this:

• Make a special time in the morning to enjoy your favorite breakfast.
• Start practicing meditation.
• Try new and meaningful activities, not just priorities.

No need to run around in panic mode where you are constantly exhausted and stressed to complete tasks.

Choosing a different method and sticking to it will deepen your self-discipline and your ability to create on command.

4. Accept that you will break your routine

This is for those of you who thought I was too idealistic right now.

We all want to optimize the conditions that contribute to productivity, but these pure intentions do not guarantee that our daily lives will run smoothly.

So instead of scolding yourself on the day you don’t practice or write your first draft, admit that unexpected situations and new challenges are part of the creative process. Simply taking a break is part of the creative process.

5. Find an easy way to get back on track

After your routine derails, you can naturally become overwhelmed by tasks that seem piled up on your to-do list.

There is no correct order in which tasks must be performed, and there is no need to wait for a “perfect” condition to start an important task.

Review the rest of your time and schedule for the rest of the week, then ask yourself.

What can you realistically do?

It’s not a big goal that won’t be achieved. It is an important milestone to complete and do well.

Then adjust your schedule according to the day and week until you naturally return to the routine you want.

6. Give yourself extra time

For me, creative work always takes longer than expected.

If you don’t have enough time to embrace your passion and curiosity, when it comes time to submit your work or publish it yourself, it gives the impression of practicing offbeat creativity rather than disciplined creativity.

Exploring tangentially related topics requires space, but many of our favorite anecdotes don’t often occupy a proper place in the final draft (more on that).

In any case, leave enough time to conduct research that will make your writing voice stronger and more subtle.

7. Set small, satisfying goals

Want to know the secrets to Brilliance pouring out in one writing session?

Don’t expect Brilliance to pour in in one writing session.

Dedicating half a day to writing all day may seem like a “professional writer” does, but a professional writer lives a messy life just like everyone else.

Even if you want to give yourself plenty of time to be creative and get enough training to meet deadlines, this doesn’t always mean planning long hours of writing.

Exhausting yourself is the fastest way to unsustainable creativity, and if you can’t keep up with your creative output over time, you’re a poor candidate for a steady writing career.

Although lengthy writing sessions may be required at some point in your project, Disciplined Creativity is the result of consistent, focused work.

Schedule shorter writing sessions to achieve small, satisfying goals each day. Then you don’t feel intense pressure unless that brilliance pours out perfectly all at once.

I know I have plenty of time left to make more progress during my next writing hour.

8. Prioritize Editing like a professional writer

Professional writers are great editors, and to be a great editor, you have to learn to recognize ideas that offer more than just serving your audience.

You need to fix or remove that area of ​​your text.

To hone this skill, editing can’t be thought of later, and writing can’t be a “quick pass”. This is a separate activity.

Again, you, a trained creativity practitioner, leave plenty of time to perform.

(Spoiler warning: I’m writing more about creative self-editing on Copyblogger next week.)

9. Raise the Standard as a professional writer

Copy-editing and proofreading before you think your text is complete is an obvious editing step, but you should be the editor-in-chief of your writing career.

To grow and evolve, analyze recently completed work and take notes on how you can improve in the future.

You only benefit from learning through consistent creative effort.

At the end of each month, you can plan to give yourself this type of critical review as if you were your own client.

10. Let go of feeling 100% right.

Whether it’s the creative process or the final draft, you won’t be 100% sure you did it right. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

“Final” is an illusion.

Every time I take on a new project, I reinforce my training and creativity. You keep building your writing portfolio little by little, even if it makes you uncomfortable.

But it’s practical if you want to turn your creative ideas into paid work and succeed as a professional writer who transcends all ideas of magic, thinking, and luck.

Originally published at https://onlinestance.com on February 10, 2022.