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An Amateur Who Didn't Quit · The Daily Writer

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider, where we share a lesson each day to help you cultivate the habits for creative success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: These lessons are inspired by great artists, authors, and thinkers, both past and present.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: For more, you can visit us at dailywriterlife.com.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: What is a professional?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like such a simple question.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: A professional baseball player is a person who plays on a pro sports team.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: A professional attorney is a person who has illegal practice.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: A professional plumber is a person who's been licensed by the proper authorities.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And judging by those examples, a professional writer is a person who gets paid to write, correct?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it would seem pretty cut and dried, but we writers have a bad habit of complicating things, especially when it concerns our creative identity.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: The aviation and fantasy writer Richard Bach helped shed some light on this issue when he said a professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to just being a great quote, there are three important lessons here.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: First, we're all amateurs.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean we are amateurish or that we do sloppy work.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: It just means that all of us are constantly in learning mode.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: We never become the master who knows everything.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Second, it means we don't quit.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: We keep going, we keep moving forward, even when we're discouraged and our progress is slower than we would like.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And third, it means that if you're an amateur, you can become a professional.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, of course it also means you can get paid for your work, but there are plenty of amateurish writers who get paid for their work.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's more than just the money.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: It means you take your writing seriously and you show up as a professional.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter how big or small your audience is, it doesn't matter how much you're getting paid, or even if you're getting paid at all.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Any amateur can become a professional through hard work, discipline, and the sheer stubbornness of never quitting.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Daily Writer Podcast.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate your support and hope you enjoyed this.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can find more at DailyWriterLife.com.