At The Write Practice, we publish a new article each day designed to help writers tackle one part of their writing journey, from generating ideas to grammar to writing and publishing your first book. Each article has a short practice exercise at the end to help you immediately put your learning to use.
Check out the latest articles below or find ones that match your interest in the sidebar.
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This may be one of the most important questions you ever answer in the course of your writing career. Why? Because there will be days when no one around you—including yourself—believes you can really do this.
On those days, this answer will be crucial.
Read on.
Do you remember The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein?
I picked it up for the first time in decades (literally) while visiting my friend’s baby at her house. She asked me what I thought the book meant. I told her. She was surprised by my answer and then told me that every other person she asks interprets it differently.
I was fascinated.
What exactly is a Beta Reader, and why should you care? The term ‘beta’ is borrowed from the software industry, meaning the beta ‘tests’ (reads) your full, finished manuscript to help you eliminate ‘bugs’ (problems) before it’s published. Here’s a more official online definition I like: “An alpha reader or beta reader, also a pre-reader or critiquer, is a non-professional reader who reads a written work, generally fiction, with the intent of looking over material to find and improve elements such as grammar and spelling, as well as suggestion to improve the story, its characters, or its setting.”
All true, but they left out the most important benefit.
Beta readers are invaluable to your writing. Here’s why…
This is where I admit I am a fool and I tell you that I wrote my story at midnight the night before my column on The Write Practice was due.
If you want to set up your writing for failure, I know how.
We know how to become better writers. As with anything in life, the way to get better is to practice.
That said, there’s two kinds of practice. There’s the competitively oriented kind where you run drills to improve, like soccer.
And then there’s the process-oriented kind, where you mindfully return to it over and over, for the sake of the experience itself, like yoga.
If you want to be a better writer, you have to practice like you practice yoga.
When asked why he wrote horror stories, Stephen King once said that he wrote about the things that scared him the most.
He went on to say, writing horror stories was therapeutic in a way; a method to overcome his own insecurities and phobias.
Here’s the thing about creative energy: it can dry up.
Writing is an amazing act of courage and creation, and it takes a lot out of us. All too often, we run out of steam, and usually at the worst possible moments—when we have a deadline, a story to finish, a publisher breathing down our necks, or even just our own internal editor’s demands.
The good news: it happens to us all.
The better news: there’s a way out. Read on.
Have you ever felt like you needed help with your writing process, but didn’t know where to turn? Perhaps you’re new to this writing thing, or you’ve been too scared to tell anyone what you’re working on.
Or, if you’re like me, you’ve spent so much time in the writing process, so much time writing, editing, pitching, and educating yourself on the process that you truly believe you’ve done all you can possibly do on your own.
What should you do now?
I’m beginning a long season of travel. Yesterday, I got home from California, where I had a few meetings and spent time with family. In July, I’ll be in Portland for World Domination Summit (if you’ll be there, let me know!). In August, there’s Plywood Presents in Atlanta, and the Tribe Writers conference in Nashville, where I’ll be speaking (you should come!).
What this means for me is that I have to explain what I do for a living a lot. It’s not easy, at least for me. I am a writer, yes, but what does that really mean?
I hear from writers about your struggles all the live long day. Many problems (doubt, procrastination, perfectionism) have the same solution — it takes time, patience and practice to improve your craft. However, there’s one common writing mistake that gives me chills every time because it’s harder to help…
