“Hard work beats talent that doesn’t work hard”

The quote pinged into my inbox this morning and I thought to myself – how apt. I am a big  believer in persistence and trying. I do like thinking that those who work hard do get rewarded. I also have just finished the first draft of my latest Viking and it is a huge stinking mess. It won’t be however when I send it into my editor next week. A lot of hard work will have gone into making it the best it can be.

It is very easy before you are published or before you even attempt to write to think that writers are far more talented than you could ever be.  It is why many authors suffer from imposter syndrome. As an author, you always see your own failures. You know what the bright shiny idea looked like in your brain and what it comes out as on the page.  However in the end, it is not the talent that counts so much as the time and effort an author is willing to put in.  And a reader rarely sees the unfinished work or the machinations inside an author’s brain.

Half of the trick of being an author is staying in love with the mess that is on the page so that you mould into shape. I can remember my former critique partner being very depressed when I said great books are not written, they are rewritten…until the penny dropped and she realised that she only had to get it written, she did not have to get it right.  It is in future drafts when you get i

t right. Then when you think you can’t get it any more right, you start sending it out.  Oftentimes you are given another chance to get it even closer to your original idea. Holding the idea in affection does make it easier through out this process.

Writing novels is not a soft option. It is actually hard work. It can be tiring and mentally taxing. It is (unfortunately) not physically taxing (there are reasons why I exercise) but oh how it can fry your brain. Try going from the 8^th century to 21^st century in the matter of seconds because there has been a sudden crisis. Or spending several hours writing a fight scene. You haven’t gone anywhere but your imagination has.  It really is 99% perspiration with the 1% inspiration. The inspiration is what gets me through the hard bits.

I also love the Estee Lauder quote -- "I didn't get there by wishing for it or hoping for it but by working for it."

Anyway right now faced with a first draft, I am currently chanting “Hard work beats talent that doesn’t work.” and I know I have to work hard to get it right and to make my dreams come true.

Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romance in a wide range of time periods. Her latest Viking Summer of the Viking was out in June 2015 and she is hard at work on the next one. To learn more about Michelle visit www.michellestyles.co.uk 

What makes talent?

Recently I read Malcom Gladwell's The Outliers about why some people are super successful. It is an interesting book but missing a concluding chapter. He does point out that success is more than an individual. It is based on a web of inheritance and community that gives the individual the drive to take full of advantage of opportunities. Some of the opportunities may be masquerading as obstacles but ultimately the lessons learnt provide incentives.
He explodes the Amadeus myth -- basically that there are some people who are so blessed that they never have to work at achieving. He also points out that raw intelligence scores do not tell you very much about how someone will succeed as being successful takes more than just intelligence. Beyond a certain threshold, it is more a matter of drive and desire. Gladwell pointed to a study done by K Anders Ericsson of musicians who attended the Berlin Academy of Music. Those who were thought to the ones who would teach basically spent three hours a day practising so by the time they were 20, they had amassed 2,000 of work. Those who were tipped to be concert soloists practised significantly more, increasing the time spent with each year and by age 20, had amassed some 10,000 hours of practice. He then looked at professionals and found the same thing. Those who succeeded worked much much harder than anyone else. They did not find any genius who simply was. And neither did they find a grind -- someone who had actively put in the hours practising and got nowhere.
The need for putting in the hours also goes some way towards explaining why people are generally super successful in one area and not necessarily so clued in in others. There are literally only so many hours in a day.
Mozart is not touched by God but a man who was hothoused from an early age and encouraged to devote his life to music. Without his father and the era into which he was born, it is doubtful that Mozart would have become as great. He lived and breathed music. He put the hours in at a very early age and was encouraged to do so. He was lucky because of the encouragement. However despite his undoubted mathematical talent (music depends on maths) Mozart was not over gifted in managing his money.
The same holds true for authors. Those who really succeed have generally put the time in. They have learnt their craft and put the hours in. They did not just dream about it but worked hard. They are also supported and encouraged along the way -- mainly Sometimes the public have been able to see the journey --for example Hemingway learnt his craft through journalism. But others have stacks of short stories, half finished novels etc gathering in the attic. Still others spent hours recounting stories to their children, siblings etc before they ever started to write them down. I think it would be impossible to find a highly successful author who did no writing or storytelling BEFORE they wrote their first book. Equally it is entirely possible for aspiring authors to take courses etc and never put in the hours practising. They simply want to be. The will to succeed is not there or perhaps so many other things hold the person's interest. Not everyone wants to be as single minded as an outlier. Some people like to have a life. It is always about the choices the individual makes.
So what do you think? And are you willing to put the time in to pursue your dream? And how have you encouraged others to pursue theirs?

Michelle Styles still reckons that she is putting in the hours to make up the 10,000 needed. It takes about 250 -500 hours to write a novel. Her next novel, her 10th published for HMB, The Viking's Captive Princess is published in December 09 in the North American market.