How to be a successful writer:
·
There is no talent, just hard work.
·
Inspiration is a destructive construct.
Julianna professed to make every student of hers study
the Anders Ericsson theory of Deliberate Practice. Interestingly, he is faculty
at Florida State University, as well, where Baggott teaches in the Creative
Writing Program. Basically, hard work pays of—and if you practice several hours
a day, you will become an expert. She notes that constructs like: luck, visualization,
and innate talent combine to create a cultural obsession with spontaneous
success, success that requires no effort.
·
Be who you are, and be that well.
·
Know your stories.
·
Make storytelling a way of life.
·
Horde the details (document everything).
·
Use what you’ve been given.
·
Risk humiliation; always be writing just on the
verge of humiliating yourself.
·
Accept criticism. It breaks the piece open.
·
Your craft will ask you to sacrifice. Be willing
to sacrifice.
·
If you want the stuff, the life you can’t
afford, you’ll ignore your craft. Don’t want the stuff, want the real thing.
·
Be not vaguely bitter, be specifically bitter.
·
Know exactly what you want.
·
Polish your jealousy, feed the chip on your
shoulder.
·
More hours, more hours, more work.
How to live a resentment free life:
·
Have a secret self.
·
Be full with ambition.
·
Quit; know when to quit, be willing to work
really hard, and have a backup plan.
·
Stand up for each other.
·
Suffer fools gladly.
·
Stop being prissy.
·
Failure is a narrative plot point, necessary to
get you on to the thing you need to do.
·
Commit to the daily practice of empathy.
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