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.
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A friend of mine is in the middle of writing a short story and he wants to give up. He has 2,000 words and none of it makes sense. He doesn’t know what he’s writing about. He doesn’t know why he’s writing in the first place. He’s lost faith.
Have you ever felt like this? I know I have.
How do you finish when you want to give up? How do you push through when you don’t know what you’re story is about?
Have you ever thought about becoming a writer? If you’re like me and most of my readers, you probably have. But even if you haven’t, you should think about it.
Writing has done more for my life than I could have ever imagined. It has made me a better person, a better friend, and a better husband. It has even helped me to provide for myself and my family. And it can do the same for you, too.
Here are five reasons why you should consider becoming a writer:
How do you get your writing finished and complete your deadlines in the midst of a frenetic, distracting world? How do you break away from Facebook, Twitter, blog posts, and the other perils of the internet and just write?
We’d all like to live more focused, whole lives, but how do you actually do that?
Today, I’m interviewing author Joanna Penn to find out. Joanna Penn is the author of the ARKANE thrillers, Pentecost and Prophecy. She is also an entrepreneur and professional speaker. Her site for writers The Creative Penn has been voted one of the Top 10 sites for writers two years running and offers articles, audio, and video on writing, publishing and book marketing. To learn more about her fiction, visit her fiction website, JFPenn.com. You can also connect with her on Twitter (@thecreativepenn).
Today we’re finally announcing the winner of the Let’s Write a Short Story contest. We had seventy-five entries to this contest, which is a new high, and the judges and I had a lot of fun reading through all your wonderful stories.
However, if you want to select a winner, you end up creating a lot of not-winners. I understand what it’s like to be a not-winner (which is different from being a loser, I think). Just yesterday I got another rejection from a literary magazine. I’ve been sticking them to my fridge, which is slowly getting covered by them. But this is what you have to do to succeed.
Instead of measuring how many times you’re published, measure rejections. Instead of trying to get everyone to like your stories, get as much feedback about how to improve your stories as you can. Don’t justify how good you are. Try to get better. If you do this for long enough, you will succeed.
Have you ever done something crazy for your writing? Perhaps making a parody of someone you know or even doing something dangerous, just so you can make use of it on paper later on?
Write What You Feel
They say: “Write what you know”. What if your life isn’t interesting at all?
At some point in my life I fell into the habit of introducing myself as a poet. My opening line was always “Hi, I’m Michael; and I’m a poet.”
Without fail 96.32% of the time the response would be “I used to write poetry as well, but I grew out of it.” The other 3.68% would probably snicker and point (at 6’2″ I don’t exactly fit the stereotype of lit–geek). I find this strange because I rather enjoy poetry, immensely if I dare add.
So I started to wonder, how can you make sure you never “grow out of” poetry? Here’s what I came up with:
I love the way Anne Lamott described writing. She said,
“Writing is like driving at night with headlights: you can only see a little bit.”
Should you outline your novel and make sure you know everything that happens before you write, or do you take Anne Lamott’s advice and drive in the dark?
Could it be possible to do both?
As a writer, you’d probably like to be more focused, to avoid the distractions of Facebook, email, and, potentially, children more effectively. You might also like to spend more time working on building a large platform, without stealing any time away from your creative writing, of course. And you’d definitely like to get published.
Today, I’m talking to author Holly Lisle about how to avoid distraction, build and manage platforms, and handle the boons and banes of publishing. Holly Lisle is the author of more than thirty novels as well as several books about writing. You can find links to her fiction and writing instruction at hollylisle.com and follow her on Twitter (@hollylisle).
Thanks for joining us, Holly!
At a wedding reception recently, the DJ played a song that was straight from my high school days. My friends and I danced along and laughed at the lyrics, but the music brought me back in time to all those high school dances.
The guys would come up with elaborate ways to ask their dates to the dance. The girls would shop for the perfect dress. We’d make plans to get together for a group dinner beforehand. And finally, we’d dance all night long (well, until 11 pm), letting loose with that freedom only 16-year-olds can experience.
So many times, I’ve heard a song on the radio, on a commercial, during a movie, or on my iPod and found myself transported to another place and time. The lyrics and the melody remind me of a moment I’ve experienced, a memory I haven’t recalled for ages, and I’ll feel everything that I felt back then.
Music has the ability to move us—our memories and our imaginations. Here’s how to channel that power into inspiration for your writing:
So, you’ve completed a first draft. Huzzah, and kudos to you! Take a bow, pat yourself on the back, do something else that indicates you’re proud of yourself.
OK, the moonwalk was a bit much. Nice moves, though.
But now, it’s revision time. Maybe you were on a hot streak at the Writing Time Casino and you’ve produced a first draft that’s almost perfect. Enjoy that moment of triumph.
