Link of the Week: "Breaking the Success Barrier"

Every Saturday, I'll be highlighting one link -- it could be a blog post, a book, a website, or anything else -- and explaining why I think that link is useful for writers trying to develop and maintain a daily writing routine. Unlike my Sunday Links posts on my general writing blog, I won't restrict myself to brand new links. Whatever I find that I think is worth sharing will be fair game.

This week's Link is "Breaking the Success Barrier" by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold, originally published in The Internet Review of Science Fiction in 2006.

The concept of the "success barrier" is that writers start out with limited command of their craft (competence) and significant confidence in their abilities. While they're on their learning curve, competence increases but leads to awareness of the flaws in their own work, decreasing confidence. If external boosts to confidence don't arrive soon enough, the temptation is strong for many writers to decide they aren't good enough and give up.

This article has some fantastic suggestions about managing that "success barrier" and it is well worth reading.

I know there were times early this year where I was running headlong into that barrier. But I had built up a daily writing chain stretching over several months and I didn't want to let that go. In fact, the way that I dealt with being a bit burned out on writing fiction due to the barrier was to switch my focus temporarily and write the first draft of "Write Every Day."

Being committed to a daily writing routine can help you push through some of the rough times in your career. It keeps you focused on producing new work which can help take some of the sting out of rejections from older work, particularly if you are also able to see the clear indications of improvement in your work.

Stop back next Saturday for a new Link of the Week!