Celebrate Your Success

Writing is a process, as all writers are aware. A great deal of dedication, not to mention time and energy, goes into the effort of developing ideas and writing on a regular basis. Life can get in the way and the balancing act of juggling writing goals and all those other things that get in the way can be a challenge beyond anyone's imagination. It can take years to get something published, with piles of rejection letters piling up near the wastebasket. But despair not!

Whether you are an author of many published books or have not yet been discovered, pat yourself on the back and celebrate your successes. Everyone has something of which to be proud. Reward yourself for the hard work along the way. Reflect on your accomplishments- and yes, the little ones are just as important as the really big ones. In fact, it is all those little accomplishments that lead up to the really big ones.

Maybe you have held strong to your goal of writing in your journal each day. Or perhaps you bravely searched out a local writing group and went to a meeting to connect with other writers. No matter the accomplishment, it took dedication, time, energy, and belief in yourself.

Now celebrate!

This is important because you are setting a pattern for self-care in your life as a writer (and person). When we take time to pat ourselves on the back for a job well-done, we are subconsciously setting ourselves up for even bigger and better successes down the road. Our minds have so much more power than we realize. Positivity begets positivity, just as negative thoughts bring more negativity. The simple fact that you have worked hard to keep your writing goals, braved your nerves or fears to go to your very first writing group meeting, or submitted your poem to that "esteemed literary magazine" is also a way that you are teaching yourself that you are important...your dreams and goals are important.

Not to compare people to animals, but think about it in a different way...I have friends who took their unruly dog to "obedience school." One way to encourage the puppy student to learn a new trick or to obey the owner was through rewards and praise. Honestly, it's the same with small children. If you want good behavior, then reward and praise that behavior. As writers, we have to train ourselves for success.

Reward yourself each time you make an accomplishment.

This will boost your confidence and foster a sense of self-pride in your hard work. In turn, it also fuels future goal-keeping behavior and paves the path to a healthy, well-balanced life. In the end, success is the light at the end of the tunnel, as you subconsciously learn to associate the "reward" with the hard-work that led to the accomplishment in the first place.

Celebrate! And keep writing!

#writing #editing #goals