Joel Libava
If you’re young, and you want to achieve success in life, there’s one thing you need to excel at.
Wait for it…
Ready?
Writing.
Because the ability to write can will take you places. Good places.
On Writing
Do you know how to write? I didn’t. Not when I first started.
Would you like to know how I improved my “writing?”
By writing. And writing. Starting a blog helped, too.
Then one day, I received an email from Anita Campbell. She had seen my writing.
In case you don’t know, Anita is a small business expert. And one day she put out a call for writers-for her website.
In her email she asked me why I didn’t respond. I told her that I didn’t feel I was ready to write for her increasingly popular and influential website, Small Business Trends.
“Phooey“* Joel. I’ll help you.”
*She didn’t say “Phooey.” She said “C’mon.”
I told her I would mull it over. Which I did.
Would you care to guess what my next step was?
It was a non-step. I blew her off. Because I was afraid. Of?
Not being good enough.
So instead of facing my fear…
I made a conscious decision to avoid talking to her about her offer.
One Month Later
Anita contacted me again. This time by phone.
“Hi Joel. I never heard back from you. Have you had enough time to think about my offer?”
“Hi Anita. Sorry I didn’t get back to you. Like I said, I don’t feel that I’m ready to write for you yet.”
“Joel, I know you can do it. And like I said, I’ll help you. And I’ll show you how to write with authority.”
I wrote my first article for Small Business Trends a few weeks later. Here.
In my book, I go into more detail about the wonderful opportunity Anita gave me.
That’s right.
My book.
A book I got paid to write.
Become a Franchise Owner!: The Start-Up Guide to Lowering Risk, Making Money, and Owning What you Do
Not bad for a guy who only attended college for a few, short months.
Regardless, I still have a long way to go. But I’m a better writer than I used to be.
Now, if I could only write like this:
She parked in front of Blockbuster Video, went into the drugstore, and did business with Mr. Joe Wyzer, who was the druggist in those days; he has since moved on to the Rite Aid in Bangor. At the checkout she picked up one of those little chocolates with marshmallow inside, this one in the shape of a mouse. I found it later, in her purse. I unwrapped it and ate it myself, sitting at the kitchen table with the contents of her red handbag spread out in front of me, and it was like taking Communion. When it was gone except for the taste of chocolate on my tongue and in my throat, I burst into tears. I sat there in the litter of her Kleenex and makeup and keys and half-finished rolls of Certs and cried with my hands over my eyes, the way a kid cries.
– From “Bag of Bones,” by Stephen King.
You Can Achieve Success In Life With Great Writing
Can you write?
If so, keep doing it. Master your writing skills.
If you “can’t” write, learn how.
In either case, this book by Stephen King, will help you immensely.
Lastly, why do you need to become a great writer?
Because there’s a good chance you’ll use it in your career. And in other facets of your life. Like in personal letters. Speeches. Emails.
And who knows?
Maybe you’ll end up writing a book.
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
-Benjamin Franklin
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