Topic: The Nature of Writing and Publishing

Question: What are the characteristics of successful—and unsuccessful—writers?

Answer: Jeff Reich, editor of The Writer magazine, a publication for writers by writers: “If you were to name a few attributes every successful writer possesses, surely persistence—some would say doggedness—would be near the top of the list. After all, we must overcome all kinds of obstacles in the course of writing an article or story and getting it to print, form the time-sapping distractions and responsibilities of day-to-day life to the many roadblocks that lie between your finished piece and publication. We’re all familiar with the impulse to give in, to surrender to the seeming impossibility of it all. But we need to keep going.”

Comment: “Success” comes in a variety of guises. My book on teaching English, was a failure. Few people—even my friends—read it and those that did seldom commented on its ideas. However, my blogs, which reinforced and even repeated what I had said in my book about teaching English, generate from 50 to 100 page views a day. For me, that is success. RayS.

“Editor’s Note: Never Lose Faith.” Jeff Reich. The Writer (January 2011), 6.