Ep. 34: What Successful Authors Do

Learn what my most successful clients do to make sure they make progress on their writing. No. Matter. What.

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Transcript

Hi writers! How are things going with you this week?

I just took two full weeks off from work with my son and my husband to visit family in California, which was wonderful since we’re only able to see them once every six months.

I’ve got to admit that the month of May felt like a grind because I was in such a rush to get things done before I left.

My trip also coincided with the end of the academic year, so my clients were exceedingly busy, stretched too thin, and visibly exhausted.

But some were still able to make huge progress on their manuscripts.

This has made me think about the differences between those who are able to reach their goals and those who aren’t.

I would love to say that every single one of my clients eventually finishes their manuscript, but it’s just not true.

For some folks, no amount of coaching or external accountability is enough for them to make it across the finish line.

Sometimes this happens because of life circumstances like a personal health crisis or a family tragedy that understandably drops writing to the bottom of the priority list.

But most of the time, it’s for reasons that are much more mundane. 

I’ve been trying to figure out what sets my most successful clients apart so I can create more strategies and solutions for folks who are really stuck. 

And here—I should note that by successful, I mean that they are able to achieve their writing goals with the least pain and ultimately publish their books.

What’s clear to me is that it’s NEVER an issue of someone’s competence or intelligence.

Everyone who has a PhD is already an extremely capable high-achiever. 

It’s not just about having good ideas either. 

Everyone I’ve worked with is an innovative thinker who brings a fresh perspective to their topic.

But, if it’s not about competence, intelligence, or good ideas, what actually sets people up for success? 

That’s what I’m going to cover today.

You can find the full transcript of this episode at www.YourWordsUnleashed.com/34.

Qualities of Successful Scholarly Authors

So let’s dive in.

I’ve narrowed this list down to seven different qualities I’ve observed in clients who finish their books in a reasonable amount of time with the least amount of stress.

And I want to preface all of this by saying that I don’t mean that these authors have an easy time of it at all! 

It’s just that they are able to find the EASIEST PATH through a complex, windy, and arduous process.

#1) Has the right balance of motivations.

So the first quality I want to mention is having the right balance of motivations for writing their book.

By this, I mean that they have a good balance of internal AND external motivations fueling their work.

When I first started writing coaching, I placed a lot of emphasis on helping scholars fan their internal flames of writing.

My goal was to get them to fall back in love with a project they’re sick and tired of after working on it for many years.

A lot of my clients are transforming dissertations into books, which comes laden with a whole mess of grad school trauma that they need to get past to move forward. 

(And I talk about this at length on a previous podcast episode on the challenges of turning dissertations into books).

I always tell junior scholars that you can’t only write for the sake of obtaining external markers of achievement, such as tenure.

It can’t just be about trying to grab ahold of those professional carrots dangling in front of you.

Focusing solely on external reasons is a recipe for burnout, or at least a very dissatisfying approach to life that will not necessarily change just because you publish your book.

But now I work with a much broader range of folks at different career stages who have different reasons for wanting to publish a book.

For example, I’ve got a number of clients who are writing their second books. 

This group has more in common with junior scholars in the sense that they often want their second book to help them reach promotion to full professor.

Their greatest challenge is in prioritizing the time for their own work amidst all of the committee and service work on their plates.

Then there’s clients who want to write books but don’t necessarily need them for their careers. 

These include tenured faculty in article fields and individuals who have left academia and still want to publish their research as a monograph.

Amongst all of my clients, people in these last two groups have the hardest time finishing their manuscripts because ALL they have is internal motivations.

You can have the best ideas in the world, be a great writer, and know that your book will transform peoples’ lives.

But, if there aren’t enough external reasons to do it, especially in relationship to specific benefits you’ll receive in your career, it will be very difficult to keep it at the top of your list of priorities.

#2: They know who they’re writing for and why.

The second main quality of successful book authors is that they know who they’re writing for and why.

This means they’ve done work to really figure out who their ideal audience member is and they write in ways that cater to the needs of this specific reader.

Remember that when I say ideal reader, I never mean an expert in your field.

I’m talking about someone who you actually WANT to be engaging in a fascinating dialogue with through the medium of your book.

When I work with first-time authors, their ideal reader often shifts over time as they become more comfortable using their own distinct voice.

And another important thing is that writing for your ideal reader doesn’t mean you are excluding others.

For example, if you take a look at my website, you’ll see that the wording is tailored to the specific wants and needs of first-time women scholarly book authors.

And yet, people reach out to me all the time who do not fit this category because they like what I have to say and my general approach.

Which is why I also coach men and transgender folks. I coach second-time book authors and article writers. And I still do some straight-up career coaching. 

But having an ideal, supportive person in mind allows you to write authentically and distances you from the need to prove or please or impress that comes from writing solely for your critics.

#3: They’re process, not just product, oriented.

So now we get to the third quality of successful authors, which is that they are process—and not just product—oriented.

Many people come work with me because they haven’t been able to make progress on their books.

They feel disappointed and ashamed, which slows things down even more and makes everything even worse.

What this shows me is that they have been only equating success with a finished product.

When it comes to a book, it can literally take YEARS to hold a printed copy in your hands.

If you wait until that moment to allow yourself to feel a sense of achievement, everything that comes before is a total slog that’s always hinging on failure.

 It’s as if the insane amounts of work you actually have done to get to that point didn’t count.

Therefore, successful authors lean into the PROCESS of book writing as its own unique journey, one that has many lessons to teach if you stay open and curious.

They recognize that sometimes it feels like a roller coaster moving on its own accord, going up and down, spinning around, and changing speed. 

And they’re there to enjoy the ride as much as they can.

They celebrate everything from the smallest milestone to the largest achievement.

They allow themselves to rest, knowing that it’s a marathon and not a sprint.

 And they don’t sacrifice or steal from other parts of their life in order to write the book (unless, of course, a major deadline is looming).

But ultimately, they try to stay present to the process and allow themselves to feel as successful as they can throughout.

This includes giving themselves grace even when they get stuck or haven’t accomplished as much as they wanted to. 

#4: They have a consistent writing practice.

The fourth quality I want to mention is having a consistent writing practice.

When I say consistent, I just mean that they work on their books frequently but also pace themselves.

There’s no one way that people get books written, so some clients write every weekday morning for two hours while others block out two entire days a week.

But generally, the more you come into contact with your book, the more momentum you will build.

You also don’t lose time needing to figure out where you were last.

What I like to tell people is that they need to be devoting a minimum of 5 focused hours of writing a week to their book if they want to move it along. 

My friend and colleague Michelle Boyd of Inkwell Retreats recently sent out a newsletter about writing practice that I want to quote.

She writes: “You might be–not just ready, but eager to build “a real writing habit.” 

If this is where you are, I’m going to suggest something that sounds a little weird: stop trying to build a writing habit.
 
 A habit is something we do repeatedly, automatically... where we almost sleepwalk through the behavior because it’s so familiar, or easy, or comforting. 

The habit groove can get so well worn that we might not even notice what we’re doing, or have a clear memory later on of what the experience was like.
  
 I think, without realizing it, many of us hope that this is what writing will be like at some point. 

This magical activity that’s so baked into our existence that we barely need to pay any attention in order to do it each day. 

It just happens because, well, that’s what we do.
  
 And it’s true—there is a time when your writing gets to that beautiful place where you no longer question whether or not you’re going to do it. 

But that beautiful place is not a habit. It’s not an unthinking act. That beautiful place is a practice. 
 
A practice, like a habit, is something we do repeatedly. But instead of moving through our practice unconsciously, we do it deliberately. With intention. 

In an effort to increase our proficiency at whatever we’re doing. 

A practice, as Janna Malamud Smith says, is “an effort at mastery that requires time and focus.” 

And when it’s working optimally, that practice becomes a delightful part of who you are... And being that person feels good.

Is writing easy when you have a practice? No. It’s still hard as AF. But what’s hard about it changes. 

When you have a practice, what’s hard is the work itself. 

When you don’t have a practice, what’s hard is the worry, shame, and guilt that comes from not having done the work.” (unquote)

What an insightful way to think about this! 

And, if you’re not on Michelle’s listserve or haven’t done one of her retreats, check out her website at InkwellRetreats.org.

#5: They ask for help early and don’t take constructive criticism personally.

So the fifth quality of successful book authors is that they ask for help early and don’t take constructive criticism personally.

When I say “ask for help,” I mean they’ve developed a practice of sending their work out for feedback to various folks who can help them think through their ideas and make them better.

The most difficult part of letting go of your work early is that you have to drop your guard and let go of perfectionism.

You have to be willing to allow others to see that you’re struggling or give them something with embarrassing typos in it.

That can be really hard to do, especially when you probably spent most of grad school trying to maintain the appearance of having it all together.

Looking back on writing my first book, I always tried to get my work into a nearly finished state before I was willing to share it with anyone.

This probably slowed me down by a couple of years, not kidding.

So if you are in this camp of holding onto things for too long, you need to see that the larger benefits outweigh your temporary discomfort.

Holding on is actually a form of procrastination even if it’s unintentional.

For example, I had a client who didn’t show me any of her writing until we were almost finished with our sessions.

Once I saw her ideas in written form, I was 2-3 times more helpful and she was able to move her ideas forward quickly. 

So sending your work out early to peers and mentors for feedback is a practice like any other. 

You might feel sick to your stomach when you press send, but it’s like medicine you have to take if you want to get over an illness and feel better.

The second part of this is that successful authors know how to take constructive feedback in a healthy manner.

They recognize that feedback is meant to help them, and they are also able to separate their egos from their ideas.

Of course, I’m not talking about blind reviews in which some people are unjustifiably harsh and mean-spirited. 

Here I mean supportive folks YOU have chosen to share with, like people in a writing group.

I’ll never forget more than a decade ago I was in a writing group with other faculty, and one member shared a book chapter draft.

I spent more than an hour writing detailed feedback on the chapter itself, plus another hour meeting with this person to explain my thoughts.

And if you’ve ever received feedback from me, you know that I work hard to present things in a fair, compassionate, and helpful way.

But this person could not handle even constructive critique, and, if you can believe it, they stopped TALKING TO ME ALTOGETHER!

This was made more problematic by the fact that we were colleagues in the same department.

When I eventually realized what was going on, I apologized to this person for making them feel uncomfortable in any way.

But it showed me the kind of academic I never wanted to be, which was someone whose entire identity revolved around their work and whose self-worth depended solely on the approval of others.

It also reinforced to me the importance of always expressing gratitude for other peoples’ labor on your behalf.

#6: They create accountability structures.

So quality #6 is very much connected to the previous one, in that successful authors all create structures of accountability.

Just like there’s two kinds of motivations—internal and external—there’s also two kinds of accountability that you need to perform your best.

Internal accountability is your own personal motivations and commitment to getting your book done.

External accountability is all the things outside of you that support you in achieving this internal commitment.

People achieve a lot more in ways that feel much better when a supportive person in their life is expecting something from them.

I’ve talked about this before in different episodes, but external accountability can come in the form of co-working sessions with a friend, in writing groups where you share your work every few months, in hiring a coach or developmental editor, or in committing to conference panels or talks that will force you to meet deadlines.

Everyone knows that they need some kind of external accountability, but what sets successful authors apart is that they tend to do ALL of these things. 

The goal is to find your own structure of accountability that makes you feel motivated but not overly committed or under too much pressure to produce.

#7: They put themselves first.

So the seventh quality of my most successful clients is that they put themselves first.

Now what do I mean by this? I’m not actually talking about things like self-care.

Instead, I’m referring to a couple different things that are about trusting your own intuition and being able to tune almost everything else out as noise. 

The first is that they give themselves permission to get things done in whatever ways make sense to them.

This means that they accept their writing process does NOT have to look like anyone else’s.

For example, one of my clients thinks in an extremely visual way. 

It’s easier and more intuitive for her to draw a diagram or a visual map of her argument and analysis and then transcribe it into written form. 

It’s also highly creative, playful, and compelling to other people.

Yet for many years, she has felt shame over needing to draw things out and has tried to force herself to comply with mainstream academic standards of writing.

Naturally, that’s led to paralyzing self-doubt.

Now that she allows herself to get her ideas down on paper in any form that makes sense, she’s been able to embrace this quality as a gift and get unstuck.

The other part of putting themselves first is that they stay in their own lane—meaning that they not only honor their own process, they let other people have theirs without placing value judgments on anyone.

As I’m sure you are well aware, one of the main ways scholars get tripped up is by comparing themselves to others.

I’m sure you know someone who graduated after you who already has a book coming out with a top press while you may have been spinning your wheels.

Or there’s that colleague who has managed to publish a million articles, obtain grants and awards, AND publish an award-winning book on top of that.

Academia is set up for people to constantly compare their productivity (as defined by measurable outcomes) to one another.

I distinctly remember feeling this in grad school at UC Berkeley, which was a vibrant and amazing as well as exceedingly competitive environment.

Whenever one student would receive an award or fellowship or get a job talk, everyone else would know immediately.

And because of the scarcity mindset that is endemic in higher ed, instead of being truly thrilled for our peer, it was more common to become envious and self-loathing.

As a coach, I help people lean into their core values—the things that truly matter to them that make them the very best version of themselves. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these values tend to run counter to the values of the academy and the standards by which they are being judged.

But, to avoid burnout and the very yucky feeling of working only to achieve external motivations, it’s incredibly important to infuse personal core values into your writing practice.

This also means recognizing your own gifts and strengths as a writer.

The unique things you offer to the world and the special perspective only you can bring to a topic.

When my clients lean into their values, they are better able to own their immense skills and talents as writers and theorists and problem-solvers.

So putting yourself first means prioritizing your goals and honoring what you are bringing to the table.

It means viewing everything else as distracting noise.

If other people are working faster than you, good for them! That has nothing to do with you or your abilities. 

Remember that how fast you write has nothing to do with how brilliant you are or how original or valuable your ideas are.

Other people are in their own lanes too.

You don’t know what challenges they actually face or what circumstances are facilitating their progress behind the scenes.

What matters is your own work and feeling the best you can about it, and about yourself, regardless of what stage it is currently in.

Summing It All Up

So let’s sum it all up.

I’ve given you seven different qualities of my most successful clients.

And I want to reiterate that writing their books is not in any way easy for them.

However, they utilize their own resourcefulness to carve out the easiest path through along and arduous journey.

And they recognize that writing a book is not something you can do all by yourself.

So let me list these qualities one more time.

#1: Has the right balance of internal and external motivations.

#2: Knows who they are writing for and why.

#3: They are process, not just product, oriented.

#4: They have a consistent writing practice.

#5: They ask for help early and don’t take feedback personally.

#6: They create structured accountability.

#7: They put themselves first.

 So as you reflect on this list, think about whether you have some areas you could tweak to make book writing a more satisfying adventure.

How can you stay 5% more curious and open to being led by the process during your work session today. 

Because, as I often like to say, why do ALL of this work if it’s just going to feel horrible?

Every day is an opportunity to start again. There’s no need to make any huge shifts.

Real lasting change happens incrementally, so perhaps try changing one small thing today, do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and go from there.

I hope this has been helpful. Talk to you again soon!