I think we should look to JK Rowling as an example here. She did a TED talk after writing Harry Potter and said, "My best work is behind me." Yet she continued the series for many more books and turned Harry Potter into a cultural icon. She makes more money off products and licensing deals than she ever made off book sales. She's a testament to doing your best work, and then capitalizing on it further.
I think we should look to JK Rowling as an example here. She did a TED talk after writing Harry Potter and said, "My best work is behind me." Yet she continued the series for many more books and turned Harry Potter into a cultural icon. She makes more money off products and licensing deals than she ever made off book sales. She's a testament to doing your best work, and then capitalizing on it further.
That's an excellent point about her believing her best work was behind her. How do you top one of the best-selling series of books of all time? Talk about competing with yourself! Yet she kept writing.
I'm currently re-reading Stephen King's "On Writing" and he mentions "The Stand" being the book that most people mention. It was written 20 years previous, and he laments/wonders if that will be remembered as his best book ever. I don't think he liked that idea, but he clearly kept writing regardless.
Good point too on concentrating on just doing your best work. Which, I hasten to add, is different than "perfect" work! But again, the first draft of anything should be only focused on getting those ideas down. (My next post is going to explore this a little more, so I don't want to give too much away... lol)
Thanks for that, Cory! Now, I'm off to find Rowlings TED Talk...
I think we should look to JK Rowling as an example here. She did a TED talk after writing Harry Potter and said, "My best work is behind me." Yet she continued the series for many more books and turned Harry Potter into a cultural icon. She makes more money off products and licensing deals than she ever made off book sales. She's a testament to doing your best work, and then capitalizing on it further.
I think we should look to JK Rowling as an example here. She did a TED talk after writing Harry Potter and said, "My best work is behind me." Yet she continued the series for many more books and turned Harry Potter into a cultural icon. She makes more money off products and licensing deals than she ever made off book sales. She's a testament to doing your best work, and then capitalizing on it further.
That's an excellent point about her believing her best work was behind her. How do you top one of the best-selling series of books of all time? Talk about competing with yourself! Yet she kept writing.
I'm currently re-reading Stephen King's "On Writing" and he mentions "The Stand" being the book that most people mention. It was written 20 years previous, and he laments/wonders if that will be remembered as his best book ever. I don't think he liked that idea, but he clearly kept writing regardless.
Good point too on concentrating on just doing your best work. Which, I hasten to add, is different than "perfect" work! But again, the first draft of anything should be only focused on getting those ideas down. (My next post is going to explore this a little more, so I don't want to give too much away... lol)
Thanks for that, Cory! Now, I'm off to find Rowlings TED Talk...
~Graham