In an article I downloaded years ago, but which seems to have since disappeared from the face of the Internet, American writer Bill Vossler spells out what he calls “Six simple secrets to writing success.”
He claims to have had well over 2,000 articles published, plus several books, so his advice is probably worth heeding. Over the two weeks, I'll post his six tips, together with my comments. Here's no. 1.
Write, write, and write some more
In his best-seller Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell emphasizes the importance of practice. He goes on at length about the “10,000-hour rule,” asserting that only those with 10,000 hours of experience under their belts can expect to become masters at what they do.
That's equivalent to five years' working full time, and thinking about it that way may well discourage you. But if you're the kind of person who's always enjoyed writing well (I rarely found high school essays a chore, and when backpacking through India and Nepal in my early 20s I took great pleasure in composing long letters home) you've already clocked up a good many hours.
That's no reason to be complacent, however. Vossler urges would-be writers to write every day: “If you write you will improve your writing.” I agree with him. While I don't work on articles or books every day, I do use language with precision each day, be it editing, crafting emails to editors (people bound to notice if I make mistakes or write sloppily), or simply reading carefully the work of excellent writers.
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