But perhaps tomorrow will be better.
As my friend and editor Joe Gergis says, it takes 15 years to become an overnight success. We hear about these people who threw caution to the wind and took up pen and paper and made millions. J.K. Rowlings wrote Harry Potter out of her car as she lived on the streets and then was rejected 12 times before an editor finally decided to take a chance with her. Stephanie Meyer dreamt her story and started typing. Even Stephen King started as nothing more than an English teacher. He threw his first novel in the trash. It was his wife who pulled it out and put it back on the desk with a note, telling him it was good and to keep at it.
The lesson is this: It may take years of effort before you see any returns, but without that effort, you won't get anywhere. It might be a miracle that finally gets you noticed, but it is only with that work behind you that you can have anything to offer once you are noticed.
For example, I now have over 50 blog entries. Someone coming to my blog will have much more to hold their interest than when I started.
For another example, I have been writing a lot of smaller pieces at varying lengths. Now if someone discovers one of my stories and enjoys it, they will have other stories to gobble up.
Guest writer Robby G said this on ProBlogger:
The great thing about perseverance when it comes to blogging is that the longer you push your log, the more you get out of it. It doesn’t matter that topic you write about, because there are a ot of people out there that have the same interests as you no matter what they are.
Perseverance gives your blog backlinks, it gives your blog a higher rating on search engines, and it gives people time to learn more about you and spread your blog’s name through word of mouth. If you read this blog and a bunch of other “making money online” blogs, it opens your mind out to how to market your blog properly, and if you connect perseverance to marketing, there is no stopping you. All that’s left is time to allow someone big and famous to come along and mention your blog in a review or just mention a little bit about your post to really help you explode onto the Super Blogger level.
It's not the miracle that makes you successful. It is the time and effort that happened before that moment. Your job is to keep moving forward, trusting that day will come when, miracle of miracles, you are discovered and loved and fans pour out of the woodwork. In the meantime, you will grow and strenghten and deepen and mature. The dirty edges will be washed away and the ugliness will be burned to dust. You will become the hardened, seasoned, naked artist that makes a story that pulls on the soul.
You will be ready for your miracle.
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Other topics on perseverance:
Recommended Reading:
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
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