Tips from famous authors…

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If you do a google search for the best tips for new authors, you’ll be inundated with a ton of advice. Some suggestions will be good… others, not so much. Below are some of my favorite tips from famous authors out there:

  1. Be open to criticism – Be it from your peers, your beta readers, and most importantly your editor. You have to be open to listening to your editor! (Stephen King)
  2. Write for yourself, not the market – Write what you care about. Don’t try to write for the market or just to sell. If you aren’t writing what your passionate about it will never sell. (Neil Gaiman)
  3. Practice makes perfect – Writing is like a sport. If you don’t practice you’ll never get better. Just a little bit every day – a page a day – will make you better. (Rick Riordan)
  4. Ask practical questions – The moment you make a decision about your story, a character choice, a plot choice, etc. you need to ask yourself practical questions about it. How will that work? How will it affect the characters? When you start asking yourself those types of practical questions and finding answers then the unrealistic becomes realistic. It becomes possible. (Salman Rushdie)
  5. Teach yourself that everything is interesting – A common desire for new writers is to edit everything, and although editing is VERY important, you don’t want to edit yourself as you write. Put everything into your story – everything is interesting – everything is important. You can edit out what really doesn’t matter at the end, when you’ve finished your first draft. (Malcolm Gladwell)

Watch the Reedsy video here:

 

10 New Habits Writers Need to Cultivate in the New Year

OK, so I love going onto the Infinity Publishing blog to find great author tips and advice. Recently I stumbled across an article called ‘To New Habits Writers Need to Cultivate in the New Year’ and it was awesome!

The main focus of the article is to talk about the fact that habits, for authors, can be good. Of course, because we are getting so close to the start of 2016, the introduction focuses on how New Years resolutions typically focus on getting rid of bad habits, but then it explains how HABITS CAN BE PRODUCTIVE!!!

“The key is to develop the right habits and turn them into a normal part of your day.” 

Want to know what the 10 habits that every writer needs to cultivate are?

  1. Writing on schedule
  2. Communicate with other authors
  3. Continuing education
  4. Take scheduled days off
  5. Start people watching
  6. Start outlining
  7. Keep your website updated
  8. Create rituals for celebration
  9. Get up for 5 minutes every hour you work
  10. Get dressed for work

Anyone who knows me or reads my blog can tell you what two of these habits I have the most problem with.

#6 – Outlining 

It isn’t that I don’t like knowing where my story is going, it’s that I love letting my characters guide me. I love sitting at the computer, not sure what will happen, and then just following the story like I’m watching a movie unfold in front of me.

#7 – Keeping my website (blog) updated

No, I don’t blog as often as I should and I definitely don’t do once a week like the article suggests. I go through spurts where I blog a lot and then spurts where I have to step away for a while. When I’m really focused on my books, I find that I blog less. I’d rather put that writing time into the book then into finding something interesting to say. Is that bad? Probably, but I can say I will try to be better (I’ve said it before) and it works for a few weeks maybe a couple of months and then… back to the same old routine.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE!