Amateur writers are an odd bunch. Just listen to them sometime and you’ll see how true that is. Mostly, they don’t understand what it takes to be a writer and a lot of them have some very bizarre ideas about what writing is like.

Therefore, I want to provide what I think are ten characteristics of successful writers, things that you really need to have on your side before you get into this, otherwise you’re just courting disaster. So let’s get started, in no particular order, because none of these are pick-and-choose.