The last blog contained the first five bits of advice. Here is the rest of the list:
6. Be Tenacious
For every wannabe writer, there are sixty more talking about it. Everyone, it seems, wants to be a writer or thinks they can. They talk about it a lot. My first question is always, “what are you writing now?” quickly followed by “what did you write today?” If they have no answer or, more common, an excuse, I quickly and quietly excuse myself. Writers need to be tenacious. They have to keep trying even if the rejections are many and hard. Being a writer is to be a person in who writes, there is no requirement to be a published writer. Sure, that is the goal of most aspiring writers and it’s a noble one, but writing needs to matter more. The process should be the goal. Who cares if you can get published if you don’t enjoy the journey? It’s better to write consistently and tenaciously, no matter what the critics, the naysayers, or the unsupportive say. Writing is a creative endeavor and it requires toughness to survive.
7. There Are No Secrets
We all want to know how to succeed. How did you get your idea? What is your process? What writing program do you use? We all want to know THE way to make it, but there is no one way. We’re all different. What works for you might not for me. I am more old fashioned. I prefer an old-school ways of doing things—taking notes by hand, keeping a writer’s notebook, avoiding apps. I write. I edit. Lather, rinse, repeat. It’s not about the program I use (Pages or Scrivener depending on what I’m working on). It’s not about how I keep notes (notebooks, Scrivener or Notetaker). It’s about finding what works for you. There are many options out there—some are highly technical and others are not. You need to find what suits your personality and what you will actually use. It’s like organizational systems. Sometimes we want the pretty little boxes, but inside we know we’re not going to use them, at least not past the first week. We’d be better off figuring out how we organize and live and build our systems around that. Writing is the same way. Figure out how you research, write, edit and find solutions that match that method.
8. There Are Rules
There are rules of grammar. There are rules for story structure, pacing and character development. There are rules that govern language. You need to learn those rules. There may be times when you will break them, but you should know that you are breaking them and have a good reason to do so. Don’t think story alone is enough. It’s not. You have to learn how to write and write well. It’s kind of like learning how to decorate a cake but having no clue how to bake one. The story is the fun part. The grammar, structure and rules are how the story exists. It’s the way it comes to life and it is absolutely necessary.
9. You Will Always Feel Somewhat Lost
Writing is a tough task. There are days when you will write and feel so productive and creative. But there also will be days when you feel like you can’t write a decent sentence and have no ideas worth committing to the page. That’s the nature of the beast. Some days it sucks. Some days it doesn’t. You have to decide whether the good days outweigh the bad. But, more importantly, you have to figure out how to write even when it feels like running through chest-high mud. Because that’s the job—writing no matter how you feel or where you are or how lost you are.
10. Finish What You Start
What is the point of having a million story starters or scenes laying about? It may be good practice, but it won’t get you anywhere. You have to finish something. Ideally, you will finish everything, even the bad stuff so you can see whether it is unredeemable. Stop dropping out when it gets hard. It will always get hard. Middles are tough. Editing can be a nightmare. Keep moving through it until you are done.