Success is a seductive word. It leads you to think there’s something more that must be achieved – some unobtained happiness that waits for your arrival. You strive and look forward, then pout when things don’t progress as quickly as desired. Is writing really that hard?

Do you think success means you must get published and paid? Or is success something that happens every day just because you managed to spend fifteen minutes writing?

Perhaps success comes with the completion of a goal. If you’ve always wanted to write an e-book, you’d be thrilled at the moment your first one was completed. Successful writers know that joy comes from a job well done.

Success could be staring you in the face right now. Perhaps the self-awareness of knowing you’re a writer is the greatest success of all. To know you’re meant to write, to set words on paper, to share thoughts in writing, is a conscious understanding of your literary talent. You know that writing is for you and you’re for it.

Whatever makes you feel successful, I believe that for you today. I believe you’ll attain your goals, develop your writing skills, and find joy in the work you do. I believe, and with my believing comes absolute certainty that the path you’re taking is the right one for you.

Know joy in the way you walk, for it is your unique journey through life.

I’m amazed, thrilled, and relieved that my Muse Online Writers Conference workshop is being well-received. I’ve got just enough participants there to keep me busy without feeling desperately overwhelmed.

Indeed, Creating an Impressive Writing Website is something that most writers are intensely interested in these days. We need that web-presence not only for marketing, but for training ourselves to be comfortable in the public eye. Yes, we writers tend to be reclusive, but selling our writing isn’t compatible with the hermit lifestyle.

There are seven sections to the workshop, and I’m posting one section each day of this conference.

1. How to make your site look professional
2. Learning from other sites
3. The joy of learning HTML and other cool web programming languages
4. Parts of a web document
5. Shortcuts that make site maintenance easier
6. Blogging tips
7. Search engine optimization (SEO)

My goal is that at the end of this workshop participants will feel more comfortable with the idea of creating their sites using plain HTML and a text editor, or a WYSIWYG program if they prefer it, and will have new resources and ideas for creating their own excellent and impressive websites. One of my teaching tools this year is a page of links to other writers’ sites… you’re welcome to check it out: Websites for Writers.

I have been designing websites for about twelve years now and for five years owned a web design business, Klamath Design. I’ve now converted my old web design site into a blog for telling people how to start their own web design business. I also have a separate Squidoo lens on this topic: How to Start a Web Design Business.

For those who weren’t able to be part of the conference… and for those I am meeting there, I just started a new message board for writers with websites: Write Web Now.