ERMA'S SECRETS
by Lynn Colwell
Many of my clients who are aspiring writers know of Erma Bombeck’s success, but little about her. They are fascinated when I tell them how hard she worked. Often these are people who are coming into writing later in life. They’ve had a career or two or three and “have always wanted to write.” Or they were told in school (like me), that they had talent in this area and “now that I’m staying home with the kids, I thought I’d give it a try.”
When my clients look at Erma’s career, what they see is a woman who was a successful writer, reeling off newspaper columns and books with the ease of a seasoned fisherman casting a fly. What they don’t see (don’t want to see?), is the years and years of writing she did; the heated debates with her editors over the use of a word or phrase; the days when she was ill or just a bit down when she wrote anyway; the thousands upon thousands of hours she labored.
What aspiring writers see appears easy. What Erma did was hard.
In the end, it was not Erma’s natural ability that led to her success. Many people are born with the ability to write. Many more hone their innate skills through the years. But how many of them take their gift and continue despite obstacles, despite downtimes, despite disappointments? How many of them are unimpressed by their own success and continue year after year, to churn out work, always seeking to improve and never settling for the easy road?
Erma’s secret to success is no secret. She simple took what she had and worked tirelessly to ensure that the best came of it. She didn’t give up. She wasn’t slowed or stopped in her tracks when things didn’t work out the way she had planned.
The sheer volume of her output is a lesson in itself.
But there is another element of Erma’s success that I share with clients who hope to emulate her. Luck. I always found it interesting that Erma did not, despite her commitment and hard work, attribute all of her success to those admirable traits. No, Erma was a realist. She said that she was in the right place in the right time. Neither her ego nor her laser-like ability to see the truth allowed her to sidestep this fact. She lucked out. She came on the scene at a time when women needed what she had to offer. Had this not been true, Erma, herself, doubted that her talent and prodigious efforts would have resulted in the incredible success she achieved.
“If it was simply a matter of working hard,” she said, “well, there are many, many people who worked as hard as I did who never ‘made it.’”
Modesty aside, I believe her. This is a difficult pill for some to swallow. They believe all it takes is putting their nose to the grindstone and everything will fall into place. If they don’t succeed, they blame themselves for not working hard enough. But sometimes, hard work is simply not enough.
I offer this thought not to discourage anyone or suggest that you start working less hard. Rather, I ask clients who seek writing success, to be realistic. Do the work and be ready when luck opens a door. But if you are ahead of your time or find yourself waving good bye to the tail end of the wave, know that there also is luck involved. Know that you tried your best. And know that this is where real success lies.
(c) 2006, Lynn Colwell
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?
Go right ahead. But please be sure to include this information:
