Richard Branson: Taking risks and learning from your mistakes
Writers, by nature, are risk takers. We sweat and toil over our writing, with no guarantee of success. There are a lot of writers who will spend a year or more writing a novel that will never get published. It’s the nature of the beast.
I think the risk of failure is the biggest obstacle many budding writers face. I know I struggle with this every time I open up my word processor. But what is more important than taking risks is that if you don’t succeed, you learn from your mistakes and try again.
One of the biggest risk-takers is Sir Richard Branson who started a small company called Virgin Records and eventually expanded it into an airline, mobile phone service and dozens of other businesses. Branson has also risked his life (literally) in other ways, such as attempting to circle the world in a balloon. He’s been plucked from the ocean for several rescues.


The Legitimate Pirate, Aug 28, 2010 re: J.K. Rowling still fighting ebook piracy, and ebooks are still being demonized