Behind every excellent book is a good writer and behind every good writer is a set of qualities and strengths that he or she needs to exhibit on a daily basis.
These strengths are crucial for the effectiveness of a writer because apart from being creative, writing is a rigorous craft that requires devotion, organization, and mental strength all of which have to be present every day.
Here are the necessary strengths in writing every writer should know about.
Goal Setting
As an author, you want to be as clear as you can with determining your goals. Knowing what exactly you want to accomplish with your book and how to execute it will play a huge part in motivating you to complete your book.
Once you’ve determined your goals, you have to write them down. Studies show that you’re 42 percent likelier to accomplish your goals if you list them.
Writing goals will allow you to strategize and follow your outline. You’ll also develop a writing routine more easily as you already know what you want to accomplish.
Set long- and short-term goals. You should have monthly goals and then set your weekly writing goals as well to increase your productivity.
Focus and Discipline
This might come as a surprise but the ability to sit still for long periods is considered a strength because to be able to do that requires focus and discipline.
You have to be still and focus on what you’re writing. To be able to spot errors and correct them. Good writing comes when you’re free from distractions. You can start by making sure that you’re well-rested. Sleep is important for writers as it allows the mind to recuperate and process the information that you have stored for the day.
Then, you can start your day with a cup of coffee or tea.No matter what your routine is, make sure that your phone’s as far away from your workstation as possible. Limiting social media usage and distractions is important if you want to get in the right mindset for writing.
Organized
Getting organized is a crucial strength for writers. Part of being an effective writer is having clarity, and you could only convey your message clearly if you’re organized.
Your readers should easily understand what you’re saying and should be able to navigate through your book seamlessly or effortlessly.
The goal is to organize your thoughts and convert them in a way that’s easy to understand.
Creativity
Creativity allows writers to build their thoughts in a way that’s interesting for readers. Being creative means having a vivid imagination and having an excellent vocabulary so that you can easily play around with words to best express your ideas.
Persistence
As a writer, you’ll encounter many challenges; mental fatigue being one of them. You can also experience writer’s block, which could demotivate you. However, developing perseverance will allow you to combat these hurdles.
You can hone your perseverance by developing a habit of writing long form content regularly. Renowned author Stephen King even advised writers to write as much as they could every day. This is excellent advice because once you have conditioned your mind to writing a ton of content, you ‘ll easily develop a free-flowing writing style. This will enable your brain to generate ideas, which you could then curate and edit later on.
Once you have your writing goals, you need to persevere to achieve them regardless of how you’re feeling that particular day or what you encounter along the way.
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Resilience
Resiliency is one of the best traits any writer could have. You could be an amateur writer lacking in the more technical aspects of the craft, but if you’re someone who can quickly recover from difficulties or bounce back into shape, you can easily get into that problem-solving mindset that will enable you to find a solution or learn to conquer your problems.
Being a writer isn’t easy. The journey to success is filled with ups and downs.
J.K. Rowling, for example, was a single parent when she was writing “Harry Potter.” Yet, even as she completed the first book, her journey wasn’t over.
She had to get a publisher to accept her manuscript and that wasn’t easy because she got rejected twelve times before finally getting her first book published. However, with her resilience, it all paid off as she became a multimillionaire in five years.
Write Away and Get Working
It takes hard work to be a successful writer. And it all begins with developing your strengths. No matter what genre of fiction you want to focus on or if you’re more of a nonfiction writer, it’s crucial to work on the qualities that improve your craft. By improving your craft, you inch a bit closer to your dream of finishing a book and becoming a published writer.
