Writing Hint #14 Write, rite or right?
2 Comments »7th November, 2006; Category: Writing Hints
I had a phone call yesterday from the chairman of a committee. I serve as the minute secretary of said committee. I’d recently given him a draft copy of the minutes of the recent AGM for proofreading. I thought I’d done a fairly good job.
Wrong.
He found a number of small typos and other errors. See, the problem with proofreading your own writing is that you think you know what it should say, but what you have typed is similar, but wrong. For example, I had “a” where it should have been “an”. Simple error, but so important in that first impression made on an editor or publisher – or reader of your blog. In many cases, first impressions are the most important and lasting impressions. In today’s busy world, you often do not get a chance at a second impression.
My advice is: as much as possible, get someone else to proofread your writing before sending it off to a publisher.
And bloggers – do everyone a favour – at least proofread your own writing.
Writing Hint: Make it a rite to always write the right words.
Related articles:
- The importance of proofreading – with links to other articles.
PS: I made sure I proofread this article carefully. I actually found 2 errors. I hope that it is error free now. Let me know if I’ve missed anything.
Just a thought – about pizzas, writing and publishers
Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
Why indeed?
Would it make more sense to use a square tray when making a pizza? The logical conclusion of that would be that the box for each pizza could be smaller thus saving on cardboard and therefore less trees cut down. Now I am not in the business of making pizzas, so there is probably a very sound reason why round pizzas are delivered in square boxes.
Too often I hear that writers are like pizza makers who try to cram square pizzas into round boxes, or are wasteful and try to put round pizzas into square boxes. Writers need to study their markets carefully. It is no use sending a children’s picture book text to a publisher who only publishes scientific texts for academics. It sounds a ridiculous example, but I believe it happens all too frequently. Writers who fail to do their homework (read market research) just set themselves up for rejection.
There are many useful resources available to writers these days, including market guides in both printed and electronic form. Successful writers use the internet to do their market research. Many publishers these days publish their writers’ guidelines on their web site. At the very least, check these out before submitting your writing to them.
Who do you write for?
I guess that title should be more correctly written: “For whom do you write?” but that sounds too stuffy.
It is a question I don’t think I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about. Do I write for some nebulous person who happens to be a conglomerate of many readers? Do I write to satisfy the editor of a magazine so my story or article will be published? Do I write for the readers of this blog who regularly leave comments?
I’m not really sure.
One thing I am certain about, however, is that I definitely write for myself. The satisfaction I derive from the creative process is worth the many long hours at the keyboard. I also like the warm glow I get when a piece works, or a story turns out far beyond my expectations. Coming back to something I wrote decades ago and getting a glimpse of a younger me, wow – that’s worth it.
It is almost trite to say, because it has been said so many times by some many writers, but I really HAVE to write. Not being able to write is like not being able to breathe. It is so much a part of who I am.
A recent article by Liz Strauss on Successful Blog has made me rethink this issue. Perhaps there is one person who is more important than me when it comes to my readers.
Link:
- Writing for that one most important reader: that curious, clever, intelligent individual.
- Successful Blog – Liz Strauss writes about many interesting topics.
What do you expect from blogging?
When I first started blogging I didn’t really know what to expect. My first expectation, I guess was that it should complement my writing for the print media. I had several novels and picture books for children in draft form, I had a significant body of poetry and short stories ready for magazines and there were several other writing ideas I though worth pursuing.
I had heard that some money could be made through blogging but didn’t know what this involved, or what it took to get even a modest income. My learning curve over the last eight months has been steep. I now have a much more realistic idea of what it takes to be a successful blogger.
How you define success is an individual thing:
- it could mean significant income,
- it could mean huge traffic to your site,
- it could mean developing a loyal readership,
- it could mean developing a small but dedicated community of readers
- it could mean providing a service to readers who access your site
- it could mean all of the above – and more.
Many first time bloggers expect instant success with a big income. The reality is harsh. It takes effort, perseverance, discipline, a business sense and above all, time. In today’s instant society, these are not high on some people’s priority list of desirable qualities.
To read an excellent article explaining this better than I can go to Darren Rowse’s article here:
How to generate content on your blog
Since starting this blog earlier this year I have tried hard to maintain a minimum of one post per day. In that I have usually succeeded, with only a few missed days. Then there have been a few days where I have posted several articles on the one day. Overall, my aim is to post at least once a day with an article of useful content. Only my readers can judge if I have succeeded.
Darren Rowse on ProBlogger has recently posted an article listing a series of articles from his extensive archives. In this series he argues that quality articles, while very important, are generally not enough for the site to be successful (translate: generate income). Bloggers must be concentrating on quantity as well. I guess this is one argument that could go on forever.
In my limited experience, getting out one article a day is stretching me because I am trying to do this for three blogs simultaneously. (Check out my Birding blog here and my Travel Blog here.) On top of that, I am trying to work on several novels and picture books for children, write short stories and poetry for a range of magazines, do a writing course AND have a life. Demanding and challenging.
It all takes discipline, perseverance and commitment. I think I have a good mix of these qualities.
To read Darren’s articles click on the link below:
- How to generate high quantities of content for your blogs – links to 7 articles on this topic.