Who you are as a writer has grown from your life experiences, your passions, your soil. Your fertilization and removal of weeds, your garden. Your writing won’t be like everyone else’s, and neither will your career or your daily routine. This may seem obvious, but we all compare ourselves to others, especially the best-selling writers. We want to be like them: successful, front-of-store books, great storytellers. So we think we should emulate them, their routine, their stories and their style. But we are not them; We do not come from the same roots, soil or climatic conditions.

To grow the unique writer in us, we need to look inward and then take steps to cultivate our writing selves. Use the following questions and tips as guides.

Question 1: Where it is? What are your background, your family, your education, your dreams, your cultural influences, what happened to you, what you heard, those family expectations, the whispers of your imagination? Be specific, be general, be crazy, be curious about yourself.

Question 2: What kind of writing do you want to do and do now, and why? What is your true motivation? Know why you are writing and don’t take the first answer that comes to mind as the only answer. Dig deeper, listen more carefully, be honest with yourself.

Question 3: What is your voice, your style and what are your strengths, your weaknesses as a writer? You are on a journey of discovery and affirmation. Accept who you are. You’re beautiful.

Tip No. 1: Goal setting. Set reasonable goals that are challenging enough to keep you interested and motivated. And achievable so you can really progress.

Tip No. 2: Tracing. Grow discipline day by day, word by word, page by page. Track your progress. “Winners keep score,” said a friend of mine, a successful small business owner. Follow-up increases awareness and fosters accountability. The biggest advantage is that it signals to your subconscious that you are serious: writing is not a whim, but a daily habit in which you are training.

Tip No. 3: Compassion. Above all be kind, have compassion for the inner writer, the writer you are growing into, whether you are just starting out or have been at this for years. Don’t treat yourself differently, especially if you are having a bad day, week, or month.

Tip No. 4: Problem solving. Are there useless pests (thoughts, ideas, beliefs of other people that are not yours, fatigue, overwork, lack of play) that invade your garden? You can change a lot of things that negatively affect your inner writer – learn to say “No”. Get out there and do something new, something to expand your heart, mind, or soul. Do you need to move your body to counteract an overactive mind?

Tip No. 5: Patience. The garden grows by itself. We don’t stand by every minute of every day and say, “Go roses! Go lavender! Grow up!” It occurs organically, due to the right conditions: the soil, the sun, the rain, and the seed. We shape the garden with our hand. We care. We take care. Regularly. As with gardening, also with writing. Honestly, why are you writing? Couldn’t you write? Probably not. In that case, make it up to yourself and write. But be nice. Plants don’t grow faster if you throw them away. That would kill them. The most you can do is write regularly, compassionately, conscientiously, and don’t give up.

Happy writing!