Serious Wednesdays: Becoming a Writer

Lots of people want to write and publish a book. That's the easy part. The hard part is actually doing it! What does it take to become an author?

Here are some simple steps for those serious about being an author:

1. Read. Read a lot! Genres you like and some you don't care much for. Hone your reading skills by practice. It gives you a broader sense of what's out there, what's popular, and most of all, what draws your attention. It will help you pin down what direction you want your own writing to head toward.

2.  Learn the skills of English. You might think you know the hows, whats and whens, but do you? As good as I was in English, when I seriously picked up writing again, I had to re-learn a few things. Writing changes with the times. You need to know the current punctuation, the dos and don'ts of how to use your descriptions, how to strengthen your dialogue, etc. Don't assume you know what's expected what a writer today.

3.  Practice. Begin by writing your thoughts, feelings, observations, life, whatever. Write a poem, a paragraph. Ask a question and write your answer in a paragraph or page. Journal. Write a letter. A very short story. Just write for practice.

4.  Once you've practiced (quite a bit), begin with an idea and plot! Write down what you want to happen, where you'll take a character, what actions will happen, what results will fail or succeed. Consider what characters will fill your pages, describe them, gather pictures if you want, how will they act, what will be their personalities? Write everything you can of what can and should happen in your book, big or small. And don't quit with the plotting. Adjust as necessary, change directions if you need to, but keep plotting.

5.  Be excited and write. Use your enthusiasm (wisely) to begin writing. Take breaks, ask for advice, research as you go (or beforehand), but keep focused and stay enthused. This is your book. You'll reach places where you don't know where to go possibly, how to do a scene, etc., but don't quit. Take a break, if you must, but return as soon as possible to your writing. Tomorrow you may delete a scene, a line or a character, but don't let that stop you. You're only making your writing stronger. Stay enthused.

6.  Stick with it. This is so important because, although it's okay to take breaks, to check our email or whatever, you must go right back to your writing and get the words on paper. Don't allow your breaks to take control of your desire to write. Because steady, continued writing, meeting your goals (whether it's 100 words or 1000) is so important if you're going to be a serious, successful writer. Stick with it!

7.  Ask Advice. Make friends with other writers. Search out and research different groups and see what fits you, then join. Eventually, hopefully, you'll find one or two writers similar to your genre likes who you can turn to for advice, critiquing your work, help in honing your baby to perfection. Listen, choose what's best for your writing, don't allow criticism to hurt, and keep on writing.

8.  Rewrite. You'll want to read through your manuscript at least once before asking others to critique it, so get that done. You'll probably want to correct mistakes, adjust a scene, delete a little, add some, but all of this will give you a chance to "clean" up your baby.

9.  Rewrite again. Once you get that first critique from a writing buddy, begin with the corrections and reread again. Some will find that this will do the job of making your manuscript as good as you can, but some manuscripts may take several rewrites. Don't get discouraged. You can do this, and after all, you want this to be the best it can be. It will reflect on you, your writing ability and your manuscript.

Finally...

10.  You'll be ready to share it. By now, you'll have an idea of where you want to go with your writing work. Is this written for family and friends or do you propose to share it with the world? This is critical in your satisfaction with your writing.

11.  Hopefully, you've found some writing workshops, conferences, gatherings, etc. where you've met other writers, agents, and publishers. Where you've learned a bit about the publishing world, how agents work, what genres they want, what's necessary to seek an agent or publisher. Don't pick the first one who smiles at you, but study them out and see what fits with your goals.

Most of all, don't quit. Rejections will come, Hard lifetimes will come that may interrupt you, blank times will hit you when you feel you have nothing more to write but don't quit. Take those breaks, relax a bit, experience a few things, then return. 

Happy writing days wished for you!