“What does John Grisham have to do with blogging,” you’re probably thinking.
The answer: nothing. Also, plenty.
You see, Grisham wasn’t always the master of legal thrillers.
Before “The Firm,” before “The Pelican Brief,” before any of his 23 bestsellers; John Grisham was a lawyer.
And his story — one of perseverance, hard work, and dreams — is one to which all bloggers can relate.
After graduating law school, he practiced law for nearly a decade. He was elected to Mississippi’s House of Representatives in 1983.
By any tangible measure, he was a?successful lawyer with a bright career ahead of him.
The only problem is John Grisham didn’t want to be a lawyer. He didn’t want to be a politician.
Grisham wanted to write novels.
So what did he do?
He began to write.
The Road Less Traveled
Beginning in 1984, Grisham would arrive to work at 5:30 in the morning. However, his work day didn’t usually begin until 9:00.
Why did he do this? So he could write.
His goal was to write at least one page each day.
It took Grisham three years to complete his first novel, “A Time to Kill.”
Three years.
Immediately after finishing his first novel, Grisham began working on his second.
That novel was “The Firm.” And the rest is literary history.
So, what can John Grisham teach us about blogging?
Nothing Worth Having Comes Easily
Grisham didn’t write only when it was a convenient time for him to do so. He didn’t write for just a few minutes every so often.
No, Grisham majorly inconvenienced himself in order to write.
He wrote daily.
He wrote early.
He wrote when he was exhausted, he wrote when he knew he had a full day of work still ahead of him, and he wrote when he would have liked nothing more than to stay in bed and sleep.
If you want your blog to be the very best it can be, you’re going to have to dedicate time to it.
You’re going to have to write (at least sometimes) when it isn’t convenient.
You’re going to have to work at it.
(By the way, this lesson is true with all things worth having in life.)
The Importance Of Scheduling
Grisham didn’t just decide he would write “sometime during the day.” No, he scheduled a time.
He probably added “write one page” to each day on the calendar of his smartphone. (They had smartphones in 1983, right?)
You are far less likely to neglect something you have scheduled.
So when you schedule something, when you add it to your calendar, you’re saying it matters.
You have prioritized it.
If you care about your blog and want it to succeed, you need to make it a priority.
You need to add it to your schedule.
Perseverance
There will be days when you’re blogging and you think to yourself: “What’s the point?”
Maybe your blog isn’t succeeding the way you hoped it would succeed.
Maybe you’re having a difficult time finding readers.
Maybe you’re just tired of blogging.
I imagine there were many times during those three years when Grisham felt discouraged.
He was years away from enjoying the fruits of his labor — fruits he had no way of knowing would arrive one day.
He very well may have thought to himself on several occasions: “What’s the point?”
Had he given into those thoughts, Grisham’s life would be quite different today.
Sure, he would still be a lawyer. He might even still be a politician.
But he wouldn’t have been a novelist.
And since being a novelist is what he wanted to be, anything else would have been a disappointment.
Blogging Inspiration Can Be Found Anywhere
It’s really easy to feel stuck. Your lot in life, whatever it may be, can often seem insurmountable.
The next time you’re reading one of John Grisham’s novels, or the next time you’re watching one of his movies, think back to the hard work and dedication it took to make bring the novel/movie to life.
John Grisham wanted more in life. He wanted to write. So, he made it happen.
Want to be a successful blogger?
Be like Grisham…
Make it happen.
Creative Commons Image via wfulawschool (adapted).
