Overnight Success: A Product of Long-Term Strategy (Part 2)
Monday, October 19th, 2009Overnight success? The seeds of success were planted decades ago when my favorite author of the moment wasn’t writing fast enough to suit me (I wanted a sequel to Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak). The librarian, dear Mrs. Rogers, explained that writers just couldn’t write as fast as I could read. “I’ll just write my own books,” I told her, and that spoken-aloud decision was the beginning of everything.
In my laborious little-kid longhand, I began to write. I started with stories (one of the first involved a precocious squirrel), but soon moved on to diaries, letters, and lists of more stories to write and then a little newspaper with hand-drawn illustrations (short-lived), and eventually articles, essays, and more.
The goal began as “writing what I wanted to read,” but the path became a process of doing it and teaching others to do it as well. The success I really wanted wasn’t solitary– it was success that brought others along for the journey. No matter where I’ve gone, or what my writing niche has been, my mission has included lighting lamps so that others could see more clearly as they traveled a similar path.
So maybe it’s too late to ever be an overnight success. But I’m not worried. The purpose that was planted when I was a child is still growing. There have been unexpected sprouts and blossoms along the way, and there have been seasons of drought, frost, and blight, but the roots are strong, and there are stories to tell. I’m here, I’m still moving, and authentic, creative, and abundant long-term success is where I plan to go.

Here’s an interesting project that will generate ample material for the next
Perhaps a copy of Strunk & White’s venerable guide, The Elements of Style, would be a good prize for this project. I was reminded of S&W’s pithy counsel as I read through some of the entries. Rules such as “the number of the subject determines the number of the verb” (Elementary Rule of Usage #9) have lost none of their validity with the passage of time or the change in media. This simple little manual would be a supremely fitting award (and I’d be happy to donate a copy to the cause).