* Write something every day. DISCIPLINE and DEDICATION is the key to eventual writing success, I believe. Also practice makes “purrfect”. *Always remember, that getting published takes commitment and hard work. PERSISTENCE and PATIENCE too are vital ingredients in the mix. * Treat your writing as a career, as you would a “normal” job. Throw yourself into it with “gay” abandon and reckless enthusiasm. * Be open-minded and be open to criticism. As in… “This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown away with great force.” – Dorothy Parker HOWEVER, other people can give you ideas about your work and be subjective about it. I believe that most people genuinely want to help you get ahead, so don’t take comments too personally. * Listen to your heart and write about what you love, your PASSIONS – ideas that “move you” and which make you “tick ock”. * Learn everything you can about the...
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Mine was Mrs. Martha Harrison, my eighth grade English teacher. She made us write, and write, and write. She would put a sentence on the blackboard (I used to be the one to clean it..remember that), like “If A Pencil Sharpener Could Talk” and make us write a 200 word story about the subject. She also made us create a poem book. Not only did we have to write the poems (they were famous poems like “Fog”, “The Raggedy Man”, “The Highwayman”, and my favorite “If”) but we also had to illustrate them. I had got a chemistry set for Christmas, so I mixed up some chemicals and made water colors for mine. My art work wasn’t pretty but the colors were! I received a 95 for my efforts. What was funny that I have a sister, Linda, that is a year younger than me, so in the eighth grade, she had to do a poem book. Well, Linda...
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A Simple Contest with a Strong Message for All Writers: Wake Up Your Writing Spirit The Blogfest 2005 Writing Contest has only been running for two weeks and already the results are overwhelming. And not because we’re getting far more entries than we expected. It’s because along with entries, we’re also getting heartfelt messages from writers all over the world. I’ve run a few contests before and received quite a few entries, but I’ve never been personally emailed and thanked by so many writers. What’s the difference with this contest? I think the main reason is that the idea actually came from writers. Even though the writers at our company work in publishing, they find it a little sad that there’s so much focus on writing what can sell instead of writing what truly matters to you. They wanted a contest that would allow people to write whatever they wanted to write. From that idea came Blogfest, a contest...
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Here is my “dime’s worth” (see learning “American English” , or at least your expressions already) on the subject of writing for an international audience on the world wide web. The Web offers you an opportunity, unique in history, to speak directly to millions of potential customers. Some commentators advise that if you want to be listened to, speak to them “in their language”. I only partially agree (but then, I’m always breaking the rules!)… When I write articles for “the international market” of the net, I don’t target particular countries and try to adapt my writing style. I’ve found that people around the world don’t seem to mind the fact that I may use “funny” words or spelling – small details, like “s’s” instead of “z’s”, color or colour…as long as the grammar is reasonably correct. I just try to write in my “natural style” – one in which I feel comfortable (seeing I was brought up in...
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Every writer expends a great deal of creative energy developing a story line and limning well-balanced prose with evocative sentences. That’s what writing is all about, after all. But fiction writers have an additional aspect to creation–effective dialogue. Very few stories, novellas or novels are without dialogue, and for some writers, this can be a stumbling block. Listen to How People Talk If you listen carefully to how people speak, you’ll notice that people tend to use shorter sentences in times of high emotion: anger, surprise, awe. “I can’t take this! Get out!” versus “I find this situation intolerable. I want you to leave right now.” They ramble a bit when they’re nervous or confused. “I know this isn’t what you wanted, but I wasn’t sure which way to make the diagram fit best on the page so I brought both copies with me. I hope you don’t mind.” Young children tend to get pronouns confused or leave out...
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Let me start by saying, humor that is hurtful or at the expense of other writers has no place in the writing industry. Board fights and flame wars do not belong in the writing community. This should be about writing. Online writing communities have become a cutthroat, often uncaring part of cyber world. In order to succeed in writing, I’ve always believed that we must come together and help each other. I do not understand the attitude many writers have adopted of stabbing their fellow writer in the back. I’ve always looked at the other writing communities and other writers out there as a part of my community, rather than competitors. I don’t pretend to know everything and though I run a writing community; I’m still learning like many of you. It is sad though that many writers don’t share the same opinions as me. They would rather compete than bridge together. Am I the only voice saying,” As...
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