You slave over a hot computer all day.  Spent, you call it good and hang up your cape.  Sooo, how do you know you’re doing a good job?  Here’s some rockin’ ways to gauge your writing success:

Let’s Do It

1. The president of Random House calls to personally offer you a book deal. Dang.  This is supposed to be a serious post.  Okay, the REAL #1 is:  A sense of pride, accomplishment and release when you press the publish button or the send button.  For reals, regardless of what others think, if you’re happy with what you’ve written, that is all that matters.  You go, girl.  Or, git on wi’ yo bad self.  Or whatever Yay Me phrase floats your boat.
2. Inspiration is not an issue.  You don’t struggle with what to write next, how you’re gonna pump out four keyword articles in three hours, or what’s going to happen in the next chapter.  You can’t wait to sit at the keyboard.
3. Others are finding your musings amusing.  Folks are liking what you are doing.  They are smellin’ what you’re cookin’.  They are pickin’ up what you’re puttin’ down.  Yo.  Making people laugh is one of the key powers of writing.
4. Oliver sudden, folks are contacting YOU for work.  Instead of the other way around.  Maybe you’ve got more work than you can handle and you have to enlist the help of your writing buddies to help you out.
5. Your number is up.  Umm, I mean your numbers are up.  As a bonafide recovering analytics-aholic, I know the heartache and exhilaration of looking at the numbers.  I gave up looking a long time ago, but if I had the sense my blog was taking off, I’d have a peek at the peaks.  Up numbers also includes your advertising revs.  An envelope from Google?  In MY mailbox?  Well, shucky-durn.  Gonna be some veggies in the squirrel stew tonight.
6. You are finishing what you started.  You’re dusting off a few of those manuscripts that have been laying around and you’re holding their little hands whilst you tip toe through the tulips on the way to revision land.
7. You’ve poked your head out of your hole and didn’t see your shadow.  Winter is gone so you open yourself up to your writing brethren.  You reach out to them and ask for advice, you join a writers group and you get off yourself enough to accept what other people have to say about your writing.
8. Uh-oh.  #6 and #7 had rodent references.  Better head another direction.  Rats. You garner the courage to approach those businesses or people in your community that you always wanted to write for but didn’t think you were good enough to talk to them.  Say, how’s the view from Trump Towers?  Tell Donald I said Hi and see if you can figure out why he stopped returning my calls.
9. At parties, instead of meekly responding with a quiet “I’m a writer” when queried about what you do, you loudly pronounce the fact.  In fact, you gush about your latest project and wax on about all of the things that are so cool about scribing for a living.
10. Finally, your Mom, spouse, significant other, neighbor, friends all realize that this “phase” in your life as a writer isn’t going to pass.  They accept the fact that indeed, you are a living, breathing writer and that one day they may even get a signed copy of your book.

There you have it.  Keep on keeping on dudes and dudettes.