Akwaeke Emezi’s Guide to Becoming a Successful Writer in 35 Tweets

Last week, Akwaeke Emezi put on their life coach cape and dished out truths that every writer, artist, dreamer, and aspiring achiever should read.

In a series of 35 tweets, they lays down a guide to success that includes everything from setting goals, cultivating good work ethics, and figuring how to block out the noise of self-doubt.

The tips and advice are filtered through their own story as someone who went from being an aspiring writer to signing on to one of the top literary agencies in the world and subsequently locking down a publishing deal with Grove Atlantic

Emezi’s debut novel titled Freshwater is set for a February 2018 release. It is available for preorder HERE.

Read and stay inspired!

 

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here’s how i use goals to pep talk myself into completing book manuscripts. i’ve been doing this for the past three years + it works for me.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

there’s all these things i want in my future, right? a bungalow, a personal hairstylist, money so i can make work that helps people, etc.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

other things: wearing a pink faux fur to my book launch. winning prizes so i can keep getting funding. snatching edges at ceremonies.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

three years ago, the things included: getting a book deal. getting a nigerian visual artist to do the cover of the book. writing full time.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

now, whether these are attainable goals isn’t the point (they are), just that one thing is clear. they *cannot* happen w/out the work.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

so you take that future you want w/the clear defined lines + and you trace it back to your present, drag it in. here is the excellent news.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

in order to make that future happen, which you can bc you are not powerless, all you have to do in the here and now, is make the work.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

all you have to do is write.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

+ by a stunning coincidence, that is the one thing you know how to do! you don’t even have to do it well! that’s what revision is for!

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

like, honestly, there is so much career-wise that isn’t in your control. it’s kinda awesome that the one thing in your control is this—

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

—the thing you already know how to do. and the whole fanned out future can be condensed into the choice to sit + write words down.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

that’s how i pep talk myself. you want to pay someone to finger detangle your hair w/acv + coconut oil? give me 500 words.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

you want to make sure your book reaches the people who need their realities affirmed by it? lovely! finish this chapter, then.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

you want to travel + look fabulous + talk about your work, w/excellent skin thanks to sun therapy from your week at the beach? write.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

whatever works for you. tell the story + know it will become the seed. that’s how i completed both #FRESHWATER🌊 + my second manuscript.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

i’m using it now bc i want to have a complete first draft of book #3 before #1 debuts. i’m 25k words in. if i finish early, will start #4.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

there is always something you can do rn that contributes to where you want to be. there’s always a first step, no matter how small 💞

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

plant the seed. make the work. all you have to do is write.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

three years ago, the things included: getting a book deal. getting a nigerian visual artist to do the cover of the book. writing full time.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

definitely got all these things, by the way. i saw finishing the manuscript as like, a golden ticket. it was. https://t.co/cm5S5SJbaL

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

oh! here’s another thing. your task at hand is your task at hand. everything afterwards is actually not your business. mind your business.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

like now i’m working on completing a rough draft. the quality of the writing is not my business. the revision process is not my business.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

like now i’m working on completing a rough draft. the quality of the writing is not my business. the revision process is not my business.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

my business is to hit my word count, full stop. after that, then i can revise it into something less atrocious, but rn, that’s not my goal.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

even what happens w/#FRESHWATER🌊 actually isn’t my concern either lmao. finishing book #3 is. face your work, mind your business.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

(shoutout to being neurodivergent + using your ability to fixate + dissociate like it’s a superpower ✊🏿)

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

the other thing about completing the work is that a lot of the things you worry about are executed by the work itself, not by you.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

i’ve never had to pitch #FRESHWATER🌊 to anyone, as per try to convince them. all i had to do was say what it was, or have them read it.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

that’s how i signed to my agents, that’s how i got my book deal. the work has its own mouth + voice. my job is just to write it + babysit.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

you can waste a lot of time trying to control things that aren’t your business or your job, especially when you do that instead of writing.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

the further you go, your work develops a team behind it + they’re experts at these things you’re stressing about. let them do their job.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

the further you go, your work develops a team behind it + they’re experts at these things you’re stressing about. let them do their job.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

(i say this as a control freak who hypercurates all her aesthetics + micromanages + is already okay w/being seen as difficult/ a diva lol)

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

but there’s a limit to what i care to know about publishing, so i learn where to defer to other people. i’d rather be writing, anyway.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

all that was to say that learning what your lane is + staying in it will help you execute the work. discipline is just a series of choices.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

all that was to say that learning what your lane is + staying in it will help you execute the work. discipline is just a series of choices.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

what happens after you make the work might be uncertain, but what *is* certain is what happens if you don’t make it—nothing. so make it.

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

meanwhile, preorder #FRESHWATER🌊 for the 02/2018 debut. i will *def* be wearing a pink faux fur at the launch. https://t.co/jVbgdFzMYA

— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) August 6, 2017

 

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Image via Akwaeke Emezi’s Instagram.

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*On 24th, May 2022, we updated the article to reflect Emezi’s change in pronouns.