365 TIPS FOR WRITERS 

By: 

Dawn Colclasure 

Tip #1: Decide why you want to be a writer. 

Take a few moments to think about why you want to be a writer. If you are a professional writer, reflect on why you got into writing in the first place. Was it for money? Recognition? Or simply a desire to share your dreams, your visions, your creations? Knowing why you are (or want to be) a writer will help you through the dark moments of the writing life:  The rejections, writer’s block, harsh criticism and hard work. Believe in yourself as a writer and use your reasons for writing as your defense. 

Tip #2: Decide where you want to go as a writer. 

Every journey must start with a plan. And while not everything can be foreseen, there are some guidelines we can set up for ourselves as writers. Is writing something you want to do in your spare time, with hopes of maybe selling a book or getting a poem published?  Or is it something you are serious about, willing to work at every day, submit your work for publication and get better at with time?  From there, you can focus on exactly what you want to start writing with: short stories, essays, poems, articles or books. You can always change or add to this list later on. For now, keep in mind what you want to do with your writing and how you want to do it. 

Tip #3: Write every day. 

There can be a hundred and one excuses why some writers won’t write every day.  But by setting aside just five minutes to write, or going to bed later than normal so you can write, you are disciplining yourself to write at will, not when inspiration strikes. You are challenging your grasp of the English language every day, putting your thoughts into a logical form of sentences and allowing your creativity the freedom to grow. Write every day and on whatever you can find to write on.  The more you write today, the better you will write tomorrow. 

Tip #4: Write then rewrite. 

Your best writing will be done in your rewriting.  Don’t languish over first drafts; they will not be your last ones.  Always use a first draft as a means of getting everything down onto paper.  Then rewrite all of it.  If your first draft seems perfect as is, put it away for a few days or a week.  Then take it out for a fresh read.  Also ask other people who you trust for their input.  Chances are, some sentences may need to be fixed, a paragraph can be improved or a typo will be caught. 

Tip #5: Keep track of your ideas. 

Ideas don’t normally stick around in our minds for very long. They can suddenly disappear within seconds, minutes or days. Jot down your ideas as soon as possible. Put them into a notebook, record them onto a tape recorder or cell phone recorder, type them onto a document on your computer or use index cards in shoeboxes. Whatever the method, keep track of them and have them in a convenient, easy-to-remember place. 

Tip #6: Rejection is part of the job. 

Nobody likes rejection, and nobody especially likes to be rejected. Rejection can be painful, but it’s not personal. It happens to every writer, whether you are a beginner or a New York Times best-selling author. Rejection is a part of being a writer. By accepting this, you will be able to get through it better. The more rejections you face, the easier it will be to deal with the next one. 

BEAT THE BLOCK TIP: Try writing something new. 

Try writing something different than what you normally write.  Try writing a short story instead of a novel, a play instead of a poem, an article instead of an essay.  Whatever you normally write, write something different.  Failing this, try writing a list, complete with numbering your items.  The challenge of writing something you don’t normally write will be a refreshing change for your creativity.      

Tip #8: Keep up-to-date on what’s out there. 

A writer has a greater chance of being published by staying on top of what people are reading, buying and publishing.  Subscribe to industry magazines such as Publisher’s Weekly, Writer’s Digest and Writer’s Journal, read what’s being published in the major magazines, read the bestsellers to see what kinds of books are selling and study writers’ techniques.  By knowing what kind of writing people want now, this will filter through to your own writing and help you focus on what is getting sold. 

Tip #9: You are a writer no matter what or where you have been published. 

Forget about the frustrations of not being published in a major newspaper or magazine. You are still a writer. Only an essay, short story or article in an e-zine to your name? You are still a writer. Only an essay published in anthology? You are still a writer. You don’t need to have X amount of work to be published or sold to “officially” be a writer. The very fact that you sit down to write every day makes you a writer. You are a writer no matter what you have sold or where you get published. 

Tip #10: Set aside time to write. 

Take a look at your day-to-day business.  Notice any unnecessary tasks in there?  Things you don’t really need to do?  Use this time to get some writing done instead.  Today’s lifestyle can be demanding and chaotic.  By prioritizing what we do in order to have time to write, more work can get done faster.  It may take a series of trial and error, and it may change periodically, but try finding a way to squeeze in that time to write every day. 

Tip #11: Give yourself homework. 

Remember going to school and groaning at the mention of homework?  We didn’t want to do homework; we wanted to play baseball with our friends or talk on the phone.  But homework was the challenge we needed to keep our learning skills sharp.  Homework can also be the challenge we need to discipline ourselves to write each day and work on our skill with words.  It will keep you from running into a rut and facing writer’s block.  Some ideas for homework can be: 

·          Before you go to bed, write on a plain sheet of paper “I love to write because . . .” and write the rest of the page tomorrow. 

·          Assign yourself a query to write for a major magazine (just for practice). 

·          Describe a character in 500 words. 

Tip #12: You must be confident of yourself and your skill. 

A lack of confidence can kill a writer’s chance of succeeding. Confidence is what guides you towards approaching a client, writing a query or submitting your story.  You must believe that you are a writer worthy of being published.  An editor will admire your confidence and it will also help you face rejection.  Writers who are self-confident send the message to editors that they can write something with confidence.   If you are not confident with your work, others will perceive this as a sign that just maybe you won’t be able to write something so great.  There are a lot of other writers out there with more confidence they may end up turning to instead.  No matter the project you face, be confident in yourself and in your ability to write well.