Why You Should Embrace Your Inner Pollyanna to be a Successful Writer
By: Danika Bloom
Tags: Life Lessons, Advice, Ideas, Writing, Kindness

Sometimes I think my parents gave me the wrong name. Rather than ‘Danika Ann,’ I should have been called ‘Pollyanna.’

And not because the older I get the more often I’m told, often with derision, that I’m “too Pollyanna in my beliefs.”

Pollyanna was the main character in a book of the same name, written in 1913 by Eleanor H. Porter. Pollyanna is a young girl who tries to find something positive in every situation. She summons this mindset by playing what she calls, ‘the Glad Game.’

As a writer who lives and breathes in communities of other writers, I’d like to see more of my peers — no, all of my peers — playing the Glad Game as a matter of instinct, just a natural way of being.

Most of the writers I engage with are, or do, but recently I’ve heard from peer writers that they’re not being treated kindly by other writers. With my rose-colored glasses shattered, I followed some bread crumbs down paths I don’t normally travel and concluded that some people appear to have a misconception about how to achieve success as a writer.

At the core, it seems, they think that earning a living as a writer is a competitive sport, and that to ‘win’ others will have to fail.

We live in a competitive world

If you’ve applied for a well-paying job, you know the job market is competitive.

If you’ve replied to a request for proposals to land a contract for work, you know the gig economy is competitive.

If you’ve dated recently, you know the relationship market is competitive (and to be avoided if at all possible).

If you’ve tried to get knee surgery in Canada, you know that access to healthcare is competitive.

I’m sure you can cite a half-dozen of your own life experiences where you've had to compete to achieve success, to reach a goal, or simply to survive.

But the writing world is not intrinsically competitive

Sure, if you sell your services on Fiverr or to other freelance markets, you are absolutely competing with other writers to land the gig. But there are two writing markets where the competition mindset that helps you succeed in other areas of your life will actually do you more harm than good, where being competitive will actually slow your success:

writing and publishing books

writing and publishing on Medium

In these two writing markets, having a community mindset is the cornerstone to achieving your goals.

What makes these two publishing environments different is that we are not writing for an audience of one, the way we are when we land a contract to produce words for a client. That client may have an audience of thousands, but your audience is the person paying you. Keep them happy and you get more work. You likely are competing to maintain a special relationship with that one gatekeeper.

But, as a writer publishing on Medium or an author publishing on Amazon, we’re writing directly to our readers — hopefully, thousands or tens of thousands of them. This distinction is massive because the world of readers is ever-expanding. And those readers are searching for their next binge-worthy writers and authors, the same way they’re searching for their next Netflix addiction.

Those readers are not monogamous. They fall in love with many writers’ words and are always seeking more, more, more.

I’ve built community in, and draw income from, all three worlds

As a career technical writer (20+ years) and hobbyist fiction author (1 novel), as the Vice President of a not-for-profit writer’s group (4 years) and co-founder of a for-profit author’s community (2 years), and as a recent top 7% earner on Medium (1 month), I am speaking from a place of experience.

I’m also over 50-years-old which allows me to claim the title of Crone—in writing, the Crone is the archetypal figure of the Wise Woman. So sit down, shut up and take the advice you need to make your own Hero’s Journey to your Writer’s Holy Grail a little easier and a lot faster.

Successful writers do not compete with each other, they support each other. Fully and open-heartedly. Period.

Successful writers know that other writers are their closest allies.

Non-writers, for the most part, don’t understand us, real writers. We become obsessed with finding the perfect word, working (but it feels like play most of the time) when others are relaxing, and forever fighting the inner voice demons that tell us we’re not good enough, worthy enough, clever enough.

Nobody but another writer truly understands the inner life of a writer.

Successful writers are generous with their knowledge and resources.

Real writers know that even links to competitions that they may be applying to should be shared with their peers. Because successful writers understand that their words aren’t always going to be the ones that are chosen to wear a ribbon. And they’re not only good with that, they celebrate their peers’ successes.

Successful writers read other successful writer’s work and learn from it without judging.

You may learn that you don’t write that way and never will. And that’s fine. Being a successful writer means understanding that there’s room for all the voices and celebrating the diversity.

You may learn that you could be braver and take more chances. And that’s good. Being a successful writer means pushing yourself just a little farther with every new piece you write.

You may learn that your own writing is just as engaging as the top writers' writing. And that’s great because it means that there will be a community of readers who love your words, too. You simply need to find them (and if you play nicely, other writers will help you do that).

Successful writers do not leave snarky comments on other writer’s stories or book reviews.

Negative comments serve nobody, least of all the person making them, because real writers support and protect each other from trolls. You cannot be a successful writer and a troll. Not for long, at least.

Which brings us right back to building your writer’s community — or communities

As a book author, you need a community of 100 or more Fierce Fans who will read everything you write (because you’ll give it to them for free in exchange for those critical, advance release reviews) and share their love of your work far and wide. The only way you’ll build that community is to become a valued member of like-minded (or like-genre) communities.

As a book author, you’ll also benefit from having a community of other authors to guide you along the path to success — authors who are one or two steps ahead of you; authors who have taken a different path; even authors who haven't yet achieved your level of success and ask you questions that make you think about your own success strategies.

As a writer on Medium, I’m still quite new: I joined on January 1st, 2019. I’ve only been posting with commitment (at least 5 times a week) since March 1st. I joined my first Facebook group mid-March and my second in early April. My reader stats and earning reports reflect how following the advice I’m sharing works.

My income in January and February, without community engagement, was under $5 total. In March, I hit double digits. My April income was 25% more than March. My May income was double April. And in the first three weeks of June, I’ve almost tripled my May income.

If the growth continues, I’ll be earning over $1000 in July. Not Top Earner status, but proof that authentically engaging with the writing community in Medium is as important to your success as sharing interesting stories is.

When you engage in a Facebook group, give more than you take.

I’m not going to explain this. If it’s not clear, then you’re not ready to be a successful writer.

When you engage with another reader’s story, do so fully.

Scrolling to the bottom of a story and clapping a few times is not engagement. Engagement means reading, highlighting phrases that speak to you, and leaving a comment — even a simple “LOL” if a turn-of-phrase makes you smile.

In highlighting and commenting, you’re building a relationship with the other writer, who will see you as part of their support network. That will make them feel good. In terms of community-building, you’ve taken a first step.

Your engagement should not be approached with the idea that if you clap/highlight/comment on their story, they’ll do the same for yours. Engagement is not a transactional exchange — it’s a human exchange. That’s how relationships develop and community is created.

If you read a story and don’t have something nice to say, move along. Understand that the story was not written for you. Find something that you enjoy and engage with that other writer.

Develop an attitude of joy when you see others succeeding — it means that there are opportunities for you to succeed as well, not that “your place” has been stolen. If this doesn’t make sense, you are not ready to be a successful writer.

Glad Gaming the Trolls

This past week in a small group of Medium writers I’ve become close with, I realized that my experience, sharing personal stories on a public platform, is an anomaly because I’ve never received an unkind comment on any of my 130+ stories—even the three I was certain would draw trolls.

I joked that I’ve not succeeded yet since I’m obviously not worthy of being trolled. I set a new goal: to be important enough to attract a troll.

But after hearing about the shitty impact that unsupportive writers are having on the well-being of writers I look up to, who’ve supported me on my journey, who only show up in the community with a generous heart, I’m redefining this area of success from “be important enough to attract a troll” to “be forceful enough to make the trolls rethink their motivations.”

I’m picturing the bar scene in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones when Obi-Wan-Kenobi is approached by a Dealer who says, “Do you want to buy some death sticks?”

Obi-Wan: “You don’t want to sell me death sticks.”

Dealer: “I don’t want to sell you death sticks.”

Obi-Wan: “You want to go home and rethink your life.”

Dealer: “I want to home and rethink my life.”

When Crone Pollyanna harnesses the Force

Troll: “You’re a crappy writer who doesn’t deserve success.”

Crone Pollyanna: “You don’t want to be a troll.”

Troll: “I don’t want to be a troll.”

Crone Pollyanna: “You want to play the Glad Game with all other writers.”

Troll: “I want to play the Glad Game with all other writers.”