10 Strategies that have helped Ryan Holiday to become a best-selling author
1. Always be researching
The bulk of work is researching — collecting stories, anecdotes, and data to marshal your argument. The writing is stringing those pieces together.
2. Know where you’re going
You don’t “find the book as you write”. You have to do the hard work of solving the problem first. You have to figure out the best route, too
3. It’s all material
Turn all your bad experiences, your struggles, your pain, your mistakes into the material. The obstacle is the way/ antifragile
4. Have something to say
“To have something to say,” Schopenhauer said, “by itself is virtually a condition for good style.”
My Notes :
If you want to write well, the writing style is only 10% of it. 90% is actually having something to say.
To have something worthy to say, aim to “think well”
I’ve found the only way to improve your writing is to write to increasingly “persuade” an audience. Not to aimlessly drift around.
5. Make commitments
I turn in a book proposal for my next book before my latest one comes out. When I have a commitment that I know I have to meet, Resistance doesn’t have the time or space to creep in. Meet deadline or death.
6. Work with great people
Success requires greater investment in the creative process. Pay for professional help. There’s a saying, if you think pros are expensive, try hiring an amateur.
My Notes: Find the best business. Hire him. Unleash his talent to get excellence in creative work.
7. Strenuous exercise
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought of a great line or solved intractable writing while running or swimming
My Notes: Do a lot of endurance activities. Long walks, Long jog, and exercises.
8. Have a model in mind
Have a master to learn from. For me, it’s been, Robert Greene
My Notes: Always have masters — whom you get inspired and learn from.
9. Don’t talk about (as much as you can help it)
Don’t talk about projects until you’re finished. Save that carrot for the end. Talking and doing fight for the same resources.
10. Love the process
If you’re in for external rewards, god help you. . . A Confederacy of Dunces was rejected by publishers. . . after the author’s suicide, it won the Pultizer. No one knows shit.YOU know. So love it while you’re doing it Success can only be a bonus.
Fall in the love with the process. Your biggest reward is the joy and enjoyment you yield through writing a book.
