It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that in order to be as successful as another writer, all you have to do is copy what they do (their daily routine, their style of writing...) and VOILA, you'll be just as good as they are.
That kind of thinking is just so wrong. I know because I used to think the same and I was always reading up on other writers and how they spent their writing days and what they wrote, where they wrote and how they became so successful. I was desperate to be just like them.
But it never worked. It took me a while to figure out why, but eventually I got it.
I discovered the same thing was happening in the movie, The Karate Kid.
He wanted to emulate others who were great at self defence. For ages he was trained in the right moves ('wax on, wax off') but it never seemed to work. No matter how much he practiced the right moves he just couldn't put it all together effectively.
It wasn't until that memorable scene on the beach where he stood on a wooden post practicing the 'crane' pose amongst other things.
But that was where it all mentally came together for him. He needed to not only know the right moves, but also be in the right mindset, which, as it turned out, was his own mind.
You see, he couldn't do great things by trying to copy others or practice the same moves over and over again.
Instead he had to discover his own way of doing things so he went to the beach on his own to practice in his own way, and in his own head.
And that is what it takes to be a writer; to be yourself so that you can have fun with your writing instead of thinking that you have to do things a certain way or copy what others are doing.
Writing is a creative process, and you can only create your own things.
So give it a try.
Write for the fun of writing. Enjoy doing it. And before you know it, you'll be better than the rest.
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