A Guaranteed Way to Fail

“I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”—Bill Cosby

Most of us like to make people happy. We want to be liked and accepted and when it comes to our writing, we want people to enjoy it. As many people as possible—ideally, everyone.

I mean really, how great would it be if everyone loved your writing?

Photo credit: kate.gardiner on Flickr

Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. Truth be told, there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like your style, or your characters, or your pacing or sentence structure or the way you throw virtual confetti around like it’s nobody’s business.

You can’t please everyone—there will always be bad reviews or people who unsubscribe to your blog or a stack of rejection letters.  That’s just the way the world works and it’s not a bad thing. Let’s face it—the world would be a boring place if everyone liked the same thing.

So what’s my point?

If you try to please everyone, you will fail. I usually say there are exceptions, but there really aren’t any here. You can’t please everyone, period.

It doesn’t matter if everyone else likes your work, what matters is that you are happy with it. Are you proud of your writing? Do you love your characters, your story? If the answer is no, then it probably needs more work.

If the answer is yes, then don’t worry about everyone else. Write until you know you’ve done your best and you smile when you read the words you put on the page. That’s when you know you’ve succeeded.

And chances are someone else will like it too.

Have you ever fallen victim to trying to please everyone?