Are you the writer you want to be?

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In this interview with Tim Ferriss, James Clear says:

“Decide the type of person you want to be, then prove it to yourself with small wins.”

That quote was supposed to open my class on “Atomic Habits for Nonfiction Authors” this past weekend at DFWCon, the Dallas-based writers conference hosted by DFW Writer’s Workshop.¹

Unfortunately, sickness waylaid me for a week, and I couldn’t attend or teach.

However, my slide decks were ready, and you’re the beneficiary of that work not going to waste.

Clear also phrases that advice as: “If you get one percent better each day for one year, you'll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you're done.”

But you can’t think about where you want to go without assessing where you are.

Which forces the question that titles this article:

I’ll be blunt: I’m not the writer I want to be because I don’t know what kind of writer I want to be. I don’t have a definition of success for my writing either.²

At a recent event for my day job, a man asked me if I were a better editor than a writer. Without hesitation, I said editor. It’s so much easier to tell other people where they’re wrong than to admit the same to yourself.³

Which is another way to say that I’m still not fully confident in my own writing or what I want to see happen because of it.

So I’m grappling with this question more often lately.

Are you the writer you want to be?

Pause and consider the question.

• If you are, congratulations (and please share your secrets in the comments)!

• If you aren’t, you may be in the majority. If you’re inclined, please share what’s preventing you from being the writer you want to be.

And if you’re not sure, I’ll share four clarifying questions in my next article that can help you better think through this essential question.

Let’s decide the type of writer we want to be, then we can work on the small wins that’ll get us to that destination.

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About Better Writing with Blake Atwood

I’m Blake Atwood, a nonfiction editor, author, and ghostwriter. My literary claim to nominal fame is as an early developmental editor on Atomic Habits, but I’ve worked on more than 60 books, including a few of my own. If this was forwarded to you and you’d like to subscribe, please do so below.

1. I was also supposed to meet keynote speakers Dave Eggers and Evangeline Lilly and see if they needed an editor. I’m kidding.

2. Defining success as a writer is a future article.

3. I do also share where they’re right, just so you don’t think my editing clients’ manuscripts are bleeding when I’m done. At best, they’re just suffering a flesh wound.