When I interviewed and agreed to copyedit the book, I was confident. I mean, it's not every day you can talk about your passion for grammar.

A few weeks later when I sat with a 40,000 word document open on my computer, I was quite intimidated. I was the last person to read the book before it went to print.

If I tried to fix a comma splice but accidentally deleted a space between words, the book would be printed like that. It's not like a blog post where you can fix quickly. A book. A printed book. In a bookstore. With my stupid missing space.

photo by epSos.de

photo by epSos.de

Spinning nervously in an office chair, I explained my fear to a friend during a conference call I strategically scheduled during my editing time as a stall tactic.

“Think of it as a growing experience,” he told me. “The question is: do you want to grow?”

Growth

The only way to get better at your craft is to keep going even when things get hard. Just as diamonds are formed under pressure, so is good writing.

Practicing every day, continuing even when it's hard, and struggling as a writer are vital in order to get better.

If submitting a short story didn't come with the fear of rejection, the acceptance letter wouldn't be so sweet.

If writing your novel was easy, seeing it on a bookshelf wouldn't be as rewarding.

Do you want to grow as a writer? Are you willing to push forward through the challenges required for your growth?

PRACTICE

Challenge yourself to write something different today. If you normally write in first person, try third. If you typically write as a female, try a male. If you always write one genre, try a different one. Grow.

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris, a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

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