DREAM: Your Definition of Success

When I look back at my early days as a writer, there’s one thing that I wish someone would have told me because I now see how it could have changed my life: Define success for yourself. I remember having a conversation with a writer friend about our writing lives. We sat down for coffee and she briefly mentioned that she was upset that her book was not successful. We sat in silence for a minute until I asked her what her definition of success was. She didn’t have an answer. It was the thirty seconds of silence that followed that made me realize how important this dreaming work is. We have to make this journey make sense for us. Perhaps her definition of success was tethered to what she saw other writers experiencing. It’s difficult not to compare ourselves to other writers. She was probably focusing only on book sales and publicity—numbers and visibility. She had skipped building her own map for a successful book.

Success is personal, and it’s essential that each writer defines and sculpts success as an individual, with distinct lived experiences and goals. For each book you write, you should dream a definition of success in order to track your progress and grow with each and every book. Fun fact: You should revise your definition of success for each book, until eventually, you’ve found your footing, your brand, and how you want to show up for the rest of your writerly career.

My own definitions of success for my books were all different, but each one was intricately connected to how I wanted to show up as an author. I didn’t even start thinking about that until book three, so that’s when my definition of success really changed. My new definition of success was to talk about love and care in unexpected ways and be invited to shed light on what can happen when you protect your energy. With book three, I started to say no—a lot. There were events, projects, and organizations that did not align with my new definition of success. And that definition hasn’t changed much since, thanks to the clarity that came when I slowed down long enough to pay attention.

Here are some considerations to help you dream your definition of success for this book:

• CONVERSATIONS. What do you want to talk about and how does it connect to who you are? How can having these conversations change beliefs? How can you put yourself in the right spaces for these conversations to take place?

• COMMUNITY. Who do you think will benefit from your story the most? What ripples can you imagine coming from you connecting with these people and groups? This is the starting point for defining your audience.

• COLLABORATIONS. What would it look and feel like to partner with people you admire? How does your message connect to theirs? Who might help you build visibility?

Chelene Knight (Maxine Bulloch)

Chelene Knight is the author of the novel Junie, the inspirational guide Let It Go: Free Yourself from Old Beliefs and Find a New Path to Joy, the memoir Dear Current Occupant, and a poetry collection, Braided Skin. Knight has been a poetry professor at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia as well as a literary agent. She is the founder of Breathing Space Creative studio and the Thrive Coaching Program and The Forever Writers Club.

Excerpted from: Safekeeping: A Writer’s Guided Journal for Launching a Book with Love by Chelene Knight. Copyright © 2025 Chelene Knight. Published by Ambrosia, an imprint of House of Anansi Press. Reproduced by arrangements with the publisher. All rights reserved.

Safekeeping: A Writer’s Guided Journal for Launching a Book with Love published on January 7.