J.K. Rowling’s Advice For Writers With Big Dreams
By: Frank Mckinley
Tags: Success, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Productivity, Writing

J.K. Rowling’s Advice For Writers With Big Dreams

A simple and highly effective way to up your game

Photo by Rae Tian on Unsplash

J.K. Rowling is the richest writer in the world.

Making a fortune on children’s book seems impossible. But it happened for her, and it happened again and again.

As legend has it, Harry Potter came to her when she was riding a train. She started writing as soon as she got home.

You never know where and when a great idea will present itself to you.

Write them all down when they show up. Take time to flesh them out and lead you in new directions.

That’s where great writing starts.

But if you really want to be the best writer you can be, you’ve got to do one simple thing repeatedly.

Write the Rubbish Out

Rowling is British. I’m using her word for verbal garbage here.

You get good at anything by being bad at it first.

The first time you drive a car, you better practice in a wide open space like an empty parking lot while school’s out. This is smart because you won’t hit another car with yours while you’re learning how hard to press the gas and hit the brake. You won’t annoy the people behind because nobody is behind you. Do this enough and by the time you hit the road, no one has to fear for their life.

If you’re a parent, you know kids are born with foolishness built in. Your job is to drive it out of them so they navigate life well and stay out of constant trouble.

It’s not easy. But if you don’t do it, you’ll pay dearly for it later.

When you first start writing from a raw idea, it might not make much sense. That’s okay. Just like bodybuilders have to warm up their muscles before they pump iron, writers have to warm up their pens a bit before the words flow with ease and elegance.

You can’t skip this step if you want to be a great writer.

And don’t worry, you don’t have to share the rubbish.

The next point will sound counter to that, but trust me, it isn’t.

Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

Share your failures

Do you want to be perfect?

I understand. I want to be perfect, too. And I’ve tried really hard.

I can’t do it.

Perfection is at best, elusive and subjective.

It’s elusive because you can always look at your work tomorrow and say, “I could have done that better.”

Don’t torture yourself.

All great art isn’t perfect. It’s finished. The artist stopped somewhere. You must too, if you want to publish and ship regularly.

Perfect is subjective because one person’s awesome is another one’s awful. Want to please everyone? You can’t. Please the ones who care about what you care about.

So show us your flaws. Share your failures. We know you’re not thrilled about them. But that one bad experience, framed the right way, can bring someone the hope they’ve been longing for.

Can you think of a better gift than that?

We can’t relate to people with perfect lives. We love those who succeed despite the fact they’re as messed up as we are.

So go ahead, share that mess.

Choose the right goal

We’ve kicked perfection to the curb.

What do we have left to focus on?

Effectiveness.

How can you leave someone better than you found them?

How can your story give hope to others who struggle?

How deep can you dig to show that you care and that it’s okay to be messed up?

Honest writers make the best connections with readers.

Am I telling you not to aim high?

No way.

Compete with who you were yesterday. It’s the only fair contest. Define your mission so clearly you know what it will take to achieve it. Consider each post to be part of a body of work dedicated to that mission.

Each time you write your heart out you move one step closer to achieving your mission.

It all starts when you embrace the rubbish within. Write it out and you’ll find the gold.