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“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

Not only did his book confirm for me that the best way to create a positive change is through small acts repeated daily, but the book was exceptionally well written and researched — impressive in that the author is not a professional writer — and so applicable to the many writers I meet who struggle with getting query letters out the door or writing big projects like books and novels.

There are two kinds of motivation. The first type is having a reason for doing something. My motivation for exercise is to look and feel healthy. My motivation for doing this interview is that you asked me to do it and I want to spread the word about mini habits. Unlike the next definition of motivation, your reason for doing things is generally very stable and changes very little over time. There’s also emotional motivation, which is rooted in enthusiasm and determines your willingness to take action in the moment (“This year I’m going to get in shape so I’m off to the gym!”). Most goal systems rely on this type of motivation; they’ll tell you that you need to find this motivation to succeed. The problem is that emotional motivation isn’t reliable or habit friendly.

The content on your website doesn’t need to appeal to a broad audience like print media does. It also doesn’t need to be on a broad topic. Quite the opposite, actually. Your website and social media content will be quite specific. And what’s more, unlike print media if you do make a mistake it only takes moments to correct. What’s not to love about that?

web content is also more conversational. Content is written to feel personal – as if you’re speaking directly to your audience

The clients are “not there” for all freelancers, until we go out and proactively market and find them. Take responsibility for your business success and realize it’s up to you to get out there and look for new clients (or new projects from current clients).

Don’t have a writer website? It’s time to get one. You really can’t present yourself professionally these days without a site.

Tweaking your site copy is something you can do 10 minutes a day on, and it’s well worth it to up your odds of drawing prospects to you.

The most successful freelance writers are those who know how to manage their time to get the most quality work done.

I am a human who writes, and I need to be fully energized and focused to do my best work.

it’s absolutely necessary to track your time to ensure you’re properly compensated for your work.

It’s not as violent as it sounds, but this process can prove painful for many writers; it’s all about getting rid of self-indulgent, flowery writing

don’t go off the deep end with the thesaurus. Don’t choose every synonym Word suggests for your replacements, as some lead to awkward phrasing and don’t fit within the context. Your words should fit naturally in the sentence while also decreasing redundancy.

Look for words and phrases like “a number of,” “in order to,” and especially “that.” All can be replaced with shorter and more powerful words or can be completely cut out.

Take that advice beyond the beginning stages, though, and what you get are stories that really should move the reader but don’t, either because the emotions are all related from the outside or because the narrative doesn’t provide the sort of dense, information-rich substrata upon which complex characters are built.