Dozens of ways on how to become a better writer
No Comments »20th December, 2007; Category: Writing Hints
Over the life of this blog I have shared many writing hints in the articles I have written.
From time to time I also link to or refer to other blogs that contain writing hints and other ways to improve your writing. Daniel on the blog called Daily Writing Tips has a post called 34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better Writer.
These tips have come in from readers and are short, to the point and easy to read. Even better, most of them are very easy to put into practice.
Good writing.
Further reading:
- Improve your writing – useful articles for writers
- How to write great content on your blog – a long and detailed article about improving you blog writing.
Life is just not smooth sailing
Life is not just smooth sailing.
The road of life can twist and turn and get a little bumpy at times.
Life is not easy – there are often hurdles in the way and mazes to negotiate.
Sometimes life jumps off the tracks and you head in the wrong direction.
And then at times life just sucks.
Have you got the point I am trying to make? The journey of life can throw up some interesting and challenging obstacles from time to time. These challenges can distract us seriously from our prime activity, whether that is writing or blogging or a combination. How to deal with it and still keep the momentum of your blog is the challenge.
Emergency posts
A very valuable strategy for bloggers is to write emergency posts. These are articles you have written but not yet published. They are not time sensitive articles so that they can be published at any time. If you have three or four of this type of post written, you can use them when the family dog takes ill, or Grandma dies, or you need a short rest or whatever the emergency is in your life. If you have such posts ready to publish you can relax and deal with that curve ball and later come back to blogging afresh when the trauma is over.
Writing ahead:
A variation on the emergency posts is to write articles ahead of when they will be published. I set the timestamp to the date and time I want the post to be published – set and forget (except I do keep a chart listing the dates they are to appear). I do this all the time but note that all three of my blogs are not time sensitive. When I know I will be away from the computer for a length of time – such as on holiday or travelling – I can relax knowing I have articles all lined up ready to appear on my blogs each day for the duration. This strategy is particularly useful when writing a series of articles on the same theme. When I get into the groove writing a series I can churn out five to ten articles in a day, sometimes more.
Holidays
With Christmas and New Year just around the corner, using the methods outlined above can help you to really relax over the holiday period. You can take a break from blogging every day and give yourself a few days to recharge the batteries. You can then come back to writing and blogging with new enthusiasm in the New Year.
Further reading:
- Emergency posting of blog articles – for those times when life gets too hectic
Setting goals for your writing – where did the year go?
2007 Goals
Only two weeks left of this year. Where did that year go?
How are you doing with your goals for 2007? In fact, have you looked at your goals for this year recently? Did you actually write them down?
It is usually about now that people who are goal oriented sit down and start analyzing how they’ve travelled this year in the goal achieving department. With only a few days left it is still time to achieve a few minor goals, but as we near Christmas most people’s busy lives tend to take over. The demands of work, family, relaxation, shopping and many other things tends to dominate a little – or a lot if you let them.
Nothing magical
There is nothing magical about a new year. New Year’s day is just another day after all. On the other hand, a brand new year is a chance for all of us to have a new beginning, a new start with new projects, ideas and perhaps for some even a new job. It is a chance to evaluate our lives, looking back at the old year and assessing how we’ve been doing.
A personal reflection
In some of my goals I have been quite successful this year.
- I’ve managed to maintain the flow of posts reasonably regularly on my three blogs.
- I will fall just a little short of my target for the number of posts, but I am quite pleased with my output despite the many interruptions I have had.
- I will fall a little short of the number of hours of writing I set myself at the beginning of the year, but not by much. Again, I have achieved a lot in the light of the many enforced breaks in my writing time.
- Although I have written a large number of words this year, I am also a little short on the target I set myself.
- As for submitting to print publishers I must admit that my face is a very bright red. Lots of talk, great goals and good intentions but not much of a practical nature happening there. Time to get tough with myself and follow my own advice so freely dished out on this blog. It might also stop the family nagging me too.
How have you been going with your goal setting? Leave a comment in the comments section below.
Further reading:
- Reflections on my year of writing – from this time last year.
- My writing goals for 2007 – written on New Year’s Day
- Setting realistic goals for 2007
The art of writing
“The art of writing is what you get to do once you become familiar with the craft” [of writing]. Elizabeth George in her book “Write Away.”
Learning the craft of writing is like developing any skill: get someone to show you how to do it and then start doing it yourself.
For example, when my wife and I first started blogging our very tech savvy son sat us at our laptops and stood behind us taking us step by step through the various elements of WordPress. He showed us all the things we needed to know to get started. As we progressed in our learning he refined the process, teaching us new skills, correcting us when we erred and praising us as we developed in confidence. Now we rarely have to ask for any advice for we have learned what we need to know about the craft of blogging.
Likewise, the craft of writing can be taught. I remember teaching my seven and eight year old students step by step through the process of writing in different genres. Writing a letter, for example, is far removed from writing a haiku poem. Writing an entry in a journal about one’s family experiences requires a different set of skills when compared with writing a report about a class visit to the zoo (though I can see obvious links between these two events – poor example).
Learn the craft of writing
If you want to be a writer, learn the craft.
Here are some useful hints:
- Read voraciously.
- Practise writing daily.
- Read books that teach you about the craft of writing.
- Buy and read magazines about the craft of writing.
- Join a writers’ group and listen to the advice of other writers.
- Practise writing daily – no omissions.
- Join writers’ organisations in your area and attend their meetings.
- Attend writing seminars and listen to practising writers explain the craft.
- Practise writing daily – no excuses.
- Attend writers’ conferences and talk to other writers.
- And last, but by no means least, practise writing daily.
Your apprenticeship
The above list of things that you can do to learn the craft of writing is your apprenticeship. Learning the craft can take many years, as it all depends on how passionate you are about learning the skills needed. In fact, I would go as far as to say you should always be learning the craft. Eventually you will develop the skills needed to enjoy the art of writing.
The art of writing is all about the inspiration of the moment and the excitement of riding the wave of an idea. The art of writing is what you get to do once you become familiar with the craft. Elizabeth George in her book “Write Away.”
Further reading:
- I want to be a better writer – useful hints from my archives.
- Nothing ventured – about the risky business of learning to write.
- I want to be published.
I can write a book like that
Ever read a book, get to the end, throw the book down and say to whoever is within earshot, “I could write a book like that”?
I have, many times. And I guess many people reading this have said the same thing. Good authors make writing seem easy. There’s the secret. Good writing seems easy but is very hard to do. That is why so many people say they could write a book but so few actually start. Of those that start, very few actually finish. Of those that finish, even fewer edit and rewrite their book to publishable standard. Even fewer send the manuscript off to publishers and of those that do get to that stage, few are published.
It certainly takes a great deal of commitment, effort and discipline to get to the point where a manuscript can be sent to a publisher. I should know; I’ve written three novels for children. So far I have been unable to find a publisher; any keen publishers out there looking for new talent? Use my contact form.
So if you’ve ever said that you could write a book, whether that be a novel, a volume of poetry, a non-fiction book about your hobby or whatever, what is stopping you?
If the task seems daunting, break it into smaller chunks. Can you write 500 words a day? (This article is about 350 words long and it took me just over half an hour to write.) At 500 words per day – say, an hour per of writing per day, you could have a 250 page, 100,000 word novel written in about 200 days, or six to seven months.
Even the longest journey is completed one step at a time, and the longest novel is written one word at a time. Take it step by step. You can do it.
Good writing.
Further reading: