Writing Your Way Through Emotional Pain

Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D.

Journaling is a tried-and-true way of tuning into your feelings and helping yourself make the changes that you desire. It’s a very simple process and one that you can do totally on your own, but it’s surprising how few people take advantage of this wonderful healing technique.

There are as many types of journals as there are people out there journaling, and it is totally okay for you to have your own style and way of using journaling to make your life a better place to be.

Some people choose to write every day. Author Julia Cameron, who wrote “The Artist’s Way,” recommends something she calls “morning pages,” where you write (a lot) longhand every morning. This isn’t going to work for everyone—and, truth be told, I think she meant this to be mostly for writers—but we all can benefit from the exercise.

If writing daily is helpful to you, then give yourself every opportunity to allow it to happen. I have even given up other things, so I could write. It is a priority for me and not just a professional one. I find writing to be emotionally calming.

Another less intense journaling technique is keeping a gratitude journal. The process is quite simple. Every night, before you go to bed, you write down three to five things for which you are grateful. The trick is that you can’t use the same ideas every day, so you have to search your soul for what gives you gratitude and then write it down.

This exercise may seem small, but because you do it before you sleep and the gratitude goes into your subconscious, it is actually quite powerful. Within a couple of weeks of keeping a gratitude journal, many people feel more positive about their lives. It can do wonders for your emotional pain, as you feel more confident about yourself and your life. It will also allow you to bring in more positive feelings from those around you.

The gratitude journal is really a great healer for those of us who deal with emotional difficulties. It allows us to share our feelings privately and then heal the thoughts that make us retreat from others and the world, as we gently change the way we think about ourselves and how we respond to situations that used to make us uncomfortable.

There are numerous ways to approach journaling, and it doesn’t matter which method you use. In fact, I know several people who keep several different kinds of journals. Whatever you choose will help you heal your pain.

Now go to the stationary store and buy yourself a nice blank book to fill with your thoughts. Alternatively, if you’d rather type up your thoughts, that’s fine too. The point here is to get those feelings of fear and those of gratitude down on paper. This helps release the fear and pain from your personality while helping you feel the warmth you have coming to you.

Journaling will make you stronger and give you some insights into where you really want to be in life. Your emotional pain does not have to stop you any longer.

from HERE

Writing Rules! Advice From The Times on Writing Well

BY AMANDA CHRISTY BROWN AND KATHERINE SCHULTEN 

Rule 1: Listen to the Voice Inside Your Head

In a post for Draft, Verilyn Klinkenborg notes that he is often asked what his “writing process” is. “My answer is simple: I think patiently, trying out sentences in my head,” he writes.

He advises student writers to do the same, in contrast to school-writing, in which students are “asked repeatedly to write papers that are inherently insincere exercises in rearranging things they’ve read or been told.” (Or, we have to add, are school exercises masquerading as sincere personal essays, such as the one spoofed in this Onion classic.)

Mr. Klinkenborg advises, “Before you learn to write well, to trust yourself as a writer, you will have to learn to be patient in the presence of your own thoughts.”

You almost surely have a voice inside your head. At present, it’s an untrained voice. It natters along quite happily, constructing delayed ripostes and hypothetical conversations. Why not give it something useful to do? Memorize some poetry or prose, nothing too arcane. A rhythmic kind of writing works best, something that sounds almost spoken. Then play those passages over and over again in your memory.

Try Mr. Klinkenborg’s suggestions and see what happens. And if you’d like to record the voice in your head, or some of the sentences you begin to experiment with, try keeping a journal. The Personal Tech section of The Times reports this week that you can now do that via phone apps, without the “inconvenience of paper.”

Rule 2: Learn From the Masters

A classic Times series, “Writers on Writing,” asked contemporary writers from André Aciman to Hilma Wolitzer to talk about their work.

Glean insight from authors like Jamaica Kinkaid on why she writes; Allegra Goodman on calming the inner critic; and Carl Hiaasen on scrounging for material in newspaper headlines.

What are your favorite bits of advice? Copy them out for future inspiration.

Rule 3: Read Like Writers

To learn “How to Write Great,” immerse yourself in great literature, which, according to writer Roger Rosenblatt, can be anything from “Harold and the Purple Crayon” (“the lessons of the ‘Odyssey,’ minus the sex”) to “The Great Gatsby” (“Jay Gatsby, who stood straight and sober in the drunken Twenties, and who, nutty as his yearnings may have been, really was great”).

What books do you admire most? Why? As Mr. Rosenblatt does in this essay, you might try writing a paragraph describing what you find important and enduring about a book or author, whether your choice is an official classic on everyone’s list or an overlooked gem you think others should read.

Rule 4: Review the Rules

In his hilarious “How To Write,” Colson Whitehead plays with shopworn advice that will be familiar to many student-writers. For instance:

Rule No. 1: Show and Tell. Most people say, “Show, don’t tell,” but I stand by Show and Tell, because when writers put their work out into the world, they’re like kids bringing their broken unicorns and chewed-up teddy bears into class in the sad hope that someone else will love them as much as they do. “And what do you have for us today, Marcy?” “A penetrating psychological study of a young med student who receives disturbing news from a former lover.” “How marvelous! Timmy, what are you holding there?” “It’s a Calvinoesque romp through an unnamed metropolis much like New York, narrated by an armadillo.” “Such imagination!” Show and Tell, followed by a good nap.

Before you read the rest of Mr. Whitehead’s rules, you might brainstorm, alone or in a group, your own “Rules for Writing” — derived from what you’ve learned in school, from “real” writers, from your own experience, or from anywhere else. When you’re finished, consider:

Is there a difference between the rules you’ve learned in school and those you’ve learned about writing on your own?
Which rules seem most sound to you?
Do we need rules for writing?
Then, read the rest of Mr. Whitehead’s essay, and compare the two lists. What did you learn about writing from his piece that you didn’t know before?

Or, use his list as a model, and create a list of rules that spoof the advice on, or the clichés about, a topic you know well.

Rule 5: Study Sentences

In “My Life’s Sentences,” Jhumpa Lahiri writes:

In college, I used to underline sentences that struck me, that made me look up from the page. They were not necessarily the same sentences the professors pointed out, which would turn up for further explication on an exam. I noted them for their clarity, their rhythm, their beauty and their enchantment. For surely it is a magical thing for a handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time. To conjure a place, a person, a situation, in all its specificity and dimensions. To affect us and alter us, as profoundly as real people and things do.

Sentences matter. In fact, Constance Hale notes that sentences can even act as miniature narratives. As Hale does, you might collect your own examples of great sentences that are mini-narratives.

Ms. Hale also explores the “Sentences of the Masters” to demonstrate the different effects of short and long sentences:

Gabriel García Márquez writes unhurried sentences that almost defy parsing. William Faulkner wrote a nearly 1,300-word sentence that ended up in Guinness World Records, but he used the five words “My mother is a fish” as a complete chapter of a book. Joan Didion can stop us short with simple truths, and she can take us on strolls down labyrinthine corridors.

Look for examples of interesting sentence structure and sentence variety in a work you are studying or reading, then write your own “copy-change” versions, in which you borrow another author’s structure and use it to create your own piece.

You might also consider excerpts from children’s book to review sound literary devices and explore the music that sentences make.

Rule 6: Write With Non-Zombie Nouns and Verbs

Delve into Strunk and White’s fourth style reminder “Write with nouns and verbs” by reading about what Helen Sword calls “Zombie Nouns”:

Nouns formed from other parts of speech are called nominalizations. Academics love them; so do lawyers, bureaucrats and business writers. I call them “zombie nouns” because they cannibalize active verbs, suck the lifeblood from adjectives and substitute abstract entities for human beings.

Fight those nasty zombie nouns with vivacious verbs.

And to consider tricky questions like “Do verbs have to be in the active voice?” and “When is the passive voice useful?” use the rules and examples in this post by Constance Hale.

Rule 7: Punctuate That Thought

In a post on exclamation points, Ben Yagoda writes

Habitual e-mailers, texters and posters convey quite precise nuances through punctuation, which is after all one of the points of punctuation. A friend’s 12-year-old daughter once said that in her view, a single exclamation point is fine, as is three, but never two. My friend asked her where this rule came from and the girl said, “Nowhere. It’s just something you learn.”

Look through e-mails and texts you’ve sent for examples of “precise nuances” you’ve conveyed through punctuation. What “rules,” like the exclamation-point rule cited above, do you think govern the use of punctuation in forms of communication like texts and I.M.’s?

How might an older generation less fluent in these methods get the unwritten rules wrong? (Teachers: sites like When Parents Text might be useful here, but please consider whether they are appropriate for your students first.)

Here are some punctuation marks to consider:

Exclamation points

Use Mr. Yagoda’s post to examine and appreciate the role of the exclamation point in a sentence, then track exclamation points you see in “the wild”— in texts, e-mail, advertising, literature, or anywhere else. How do audience and purpose help determine when and why an exclamation point might be necessary or desirable?

Periods

Mr. Yagoda’s post also alludes to the use of the period in the Obama “Forward.” Slogan and what it suggests. What, exactly, does that period tell readers? What about the period the band Fun. has in its name?

Semicolons

Semicolons mystify many. In Semicolons: A Love Story Ben Dolnick recalls

When I was a teenager, newly fixated on becoming a writer, I came across a piece of advice from Kurt Vonnegut that affected me like an ice cube down the back of my shirt. “Do not use semicolons,” he said. “They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”

While Vonnegut’s admonition may be harsh, Mr. Dolnick offers a good primer to using semicolons sparingly and eloquently, helping them understand the comma-period hybrid as writers and readers, which is useful, as one never knows where one might pop up.

Commas

Correct comma placement matters. Just ask Grandma:
Let’s eat, Grandma!
Let’s eat Grandma!

Use the Draft post “Fanfare for the Comma Man” as a jumping off point to examine comma use in a book you are currently reading. Copy sentences which include commas and use them to deduce the rules for proper comma use.

Then, turn to this post to check the accuracy of the comma rules you’ve come up with and check that your writers are following the rules.

Rule 8: Nobody’s Perfect

Yes, Times writers and editors do make mistakes and the in-house feature “After Deadline,” which the public can view, too, takes them to task by highlighting and correcting errors in grammar, usage and style that appear in print.

Use this blog to understand grammatical points, like subject verb agreement. Then, become a better editor of your own work by taking the After Deadline Quiz.

Rule 9: Fail

Learn from your mistakes and failures, a topic Augusten Burroughs tackles in
“How to Write How-To”:

… to pass along the knowledge of how to succeed, first you must know how to fail. A great deal, if possible. This is essential because it’s far more common (and easier) to make mistakes than to enjoy success. Being aware of potential points of derailment helps to better and more accurately navigate your readers past your own missteps so they can succeed where perhaps you first failed quite miserably.

Value mistakes, and the successes that grow from them, by keeping a portfolio of your work, including revisions and editing exercises. You might even reflect in writing on how your writing has progressed, or create a timeline of your development as a writer to see, laid out chronologically, how you’ve grown from as a writer over time.

from HERE

How to ‘just write’

by Dorothea Brooke


This is not about how to write well. If you’ve come here for expert advice on how to refine your art and create beautiful, engaging prose that scintillates and inspires, I’m sorry. You’re clearly in the wrong place — I just used the word scintillates, for Heaven’s sake, and I’m about to start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction. But if you want to know how to knuckle down and write any damn thing, this post is for you.

There is plenty of advice out there on how to write well. Before there is even the ghost of possibility of writing well, one first needs to know how to just write. Not just at the basic level of acquiring the literacy skill required to know how to put together a grammatically correct sentence (although, obviously, there’s that), but how to actually do that on a practical level, in sustained stretches, regularly. Daily, even.

There isn’t so much advice out there on how to make writing part of your life, other than just do it. So here are my suggestions on how to just write.

Write any old drivel. For a lot of would-be writers, writing is more than just a hobby; it’s a calling, a latent but significant aspect of their deepest authentic self, which when finally given the time and opportunity to develop into its potential will be the complete expression of their identity and place in this world. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a talent that you haven’t really practised since that 3 chapter novella about dinosaurs eating chocolate you laboured over in third grade. The link between perfectionism and procrastination might be overstated but I know that waiting to write when I’m ready to really be a writer held me back from actually writing.

Start by writing some trashy fan-fiction, terribly derivative fantasy stories, or travel blog monologues about your nothing-new spiritual awakening in India. Whatever gets you actually writing. I started by writing terrible erotica that was never meant to be a full expression of my real writing talent. there was no pressure for it to be good. I also started journaling. Building a daily journaling habit has been hard, but the immediate value for my mental well being was a motivating force. Journaling is still a valued part of my personal development and self care routines, and my journal is fertile ground in which to allow vague notions to grow into actual, usable ideas.

Start with a word-count goal first, then progress to project goals. By project goals, I mean aiming to complete a whole text — something like, ‘write How to Just Write for Medium’. The problem with project goals is that they are as long as a piece of string. If it’s the kind of thing you’ve never done before, it could be short and achievable, but also, it could potentially be very long, approaching infinite, with revisions and reworking and deleting then adding, deleting then adding.

So, there is a high chance of failure and discouragement as you realise that this writing thing isn’t as easy as it should be, you’re not as full of untapped talent that just needed an opportunity to gush forth as you thought you were. Clearly, you don’t know what you’re doing, and now that feeling of creative genius ready to flow from your speedily tapping fingers feels like some swelling mass inside of you that you don’t have the strength to be free of. Or so I’ve heard.

So, project goals are not the best way to start small and build up gradually. A word count keeps it confined and measurable. I started with the meagre goal of 400 words a day. A pittance, something possible to hack out on a google doc on my phone during my lunch break at work. Yet even that was hard at first. I managed 4 days in a row, then got a miserable 272 words on a day where I just didn’t have time.

There’s the lie. ‘I don’t have time.’ Actually, I just didn’t make time. Making time for writing is the hardest stumbling block for a lot of people. You have time to read this blog, so you have time to write. Stop reading now, go pump out 400 words. Write any old drivel. Come back when you’re done, I’ll still be here.

Track your progress.

You can track your increase in word count, and this will motivate you to keep pushing that number up. Another thing you can track is your words per minute. Measure yourself and celebrate your improvements. Motivation snow balls as you see your successes.

Make specific appointments with your writing. Schedule it in. Start in small blocks of time at first.

My schedule varies every day and changes completely every 8 weeks, so I don’t write at a routine time. I schedule it in when I schedule in my weekly activities (if you want to know more about how I tabulate the heck out of my life, I wrote about it here).

Get the conditions as right as possible, but work with what you’ve got. Absolute silence, nil distractions, a large screen computer with keyboard letters that make a delicate click like a little pebble in a jar with every letter added, a firm but comfortable chair that swivels and adjusts, ample time due to lack of other employment, bright but warm lighting, a cool but delicate breeze, a window onto natural scenery and the absence of concerns about money, freedom, health, parenting, or housekeeping: these are the conditions under which I would write my perfect novel.

In the meantime, I write short stories and flawed blog posts on a second hand laptop in a quiet-ish corner of the library on my lunch break. I sometimes add a little here and there on my phone screen using Google docs (I’m doing this right now, in fact, at the front of a classroom because I’m early to my morning lesson and my students don’t share my enthusiasm to get started).

Some things that I’ve done to make conditions not perfect but as conducive to writing as possible are:

Writing in the library or other focused-feeling space.

Using a laptop which I use for little else than writing — — I don’t dick around on the internet on this laptop so it would feel weird to just open social media in another tab and just do a ‘quick check’.

Making a big, awkwardly overfull cup of tea to keep me planted on my seat for at least the first 15 minutes if I’m writing at home.

Removing myself from the company of other people. I don’t write well when I’m conscious if people looking over my shoulder, but I can focus if I put a few metres between us.

Get an audience for your writing. The three main ways that building a readership for your writing helps (even if you’re not yet brilliant) are encouragement, accountability and feedback.

Whether that audience is your mum, the blog readers of Medium, a social media following, other writers in collectives like this one or real live writer’s groups, etc., the important thing is that you have someone else look at your work. Writing is an act of communication. It is incomplete without being shared.

Overwhelmingly, feedback on my writing efforts has been supportive, positive, constructive and genuinely helpful. Writing on my blog and website has forced me into the regular habit of writing because I know I have to keep writing regularly to build an audience.

And I know I can’t just write half baked rubbish, because someone out there in the real world is going to read it. Thanks.

Writing is like any other skill— it is achieved by regular, consistent and mindful practice. Did you get out those 400 words?

from HERE

Warning: Writing Like This Will Make Your Readers Cry

BY JEFF GOINS WRITING

This is a guest post by Brandon Clements. Brandon is a pastor and author from Columbia, SC. You can connect with him on his blog, Twitter, or Facebook. Check out his novel, Every Bush Is Burning.

Can I ask you a question? Since I can’t really hear you, I’m going to, anyway: Why do you write?

To inspire? To critique, teach, or motivate? To remember (or forget)? For self-expression? Because you have a fire burning in your bones, and you simply must?

Out of all the perfectly legitimate reasons that you could write, I imagine you don’t do it to merely entertain. No, you want to touch your readers, move them in some way. Even cause them to cry.

Shattering the frozen sea

Frank Kafka once said, “A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us.”

Be honest. You dream about your writing having that affect on someone, don’t you? Because words have had that affect on you.

The frozen sea inside of you has been shattered by stories, truths, ideas, and turns of phrase so astounding that you had no words to respond or even tell someone what it meant to you. Isn’t that why you want to write?

So, how do you write words that will move people, and potentially even play a part in breaking the frozen sea inside of them? It’s actually quite simple:

You write what moves you.

Except that part is not always easy. Because in order to write what moves you, you will have to visit your pain. Your fear. Your weaknesses. Your nightmares and demons. The skeletons in your closet and the horrific possibility of self-disclosure, even if veiled in stories and themes.

Because, as you well know, that’s where the frozen sea inside of you is. If you are ever going to crack the ice of another person’s soul, you have to be brave enough to go first. To be a witness. A testimony. An example.

You have to go first
If you love your reader, you will go first. You have to lead them on this journey. To show them how and why it’s important.

There is enough fluffy, meaningless drivel on paper to fill the Marianas Trench. So don’t add to it. Write something that matters. And write it with conviction:

Write about the truths and ideas that are so astonishing you can hardly believe them.
Write the story that keeps you awake, tossing and turning at night because it echoes the ache in your soul.
Write that memoir, and include the parts that you are terrified of putting on paper, because it will remind you they are real. (Some may no doubt need the support of a friend, therapist, or pastor for this.)
Whatever it is, write about those things that punch you in the throat and stir your insides.

Because if it moves you — if it raises a lump in your throat as you type, it will move someone else.

It might just give them the hope that you’ve been given by other writers, with their words and stories that have inspired and reminded you that you are not alone. Aren’t you glad they went first?

As I was writing my first novel, there were many times where tissues had to guard my keyboard from falling tears. The story I was writing moved me and, thankfully, it has gone on to move others.

Such is the inexplicable magic of words, and I am in awe of the weight they can carry.

This is not just for the reader
Oh, and one more thing: Don’t believe that going first is only a gift to your reader.

It is first a gift for you — and a very meaningful one at that.

We all need to go to our frozen sea, because seas were not meant to be frozen. They are meant to thrash about with life.

So, what are you waiting for? Go find your ax. And get to work.

from HERE

Writing Tips 40 Experts Wish They’d Known as Beginners

By Jerry Jenkins

How I wish I had known as a teenager what I know now!

At 19 I worked full-time as a sportswriter for a daily newspaper.

I loved my job, but I was ambitious and wanted to see if I could sell a story to the Features editor. I worked hard on one, on my own time, and submitted it with photos.

The editor’s response crushed me.

In red pencil at the top of the first page, he’d scribbled:

“Great pictures. Bad story.”

Humiliated, I forced myself to approach his desk.

“Sir,” I said, “could you tell me what’s wrong with this so I can fix it?”

“Sure, Jenkins,” he said. “It’s sh–.”

I staggered back to my boss, the Sports Editor, and told her what had happened.

“Did you have any misgivings about the piece?” she said.

I mentioned several things I could have done better.

“There you go. Anything you thought you should have done is what you ought to do.”

I rewrote the piece that night and resubmitted it the next day. The Features editor immediately accepted it.

My mistake? I had submitted a piece of writing that was less than my best, and I knew it. I vowed to never do that again.

The thought of being able to tell my younger self what I know now prompted me to ask 39 of the best authors, writing coaches, and publishing experts I know:

“If you could go back to the beginning of your writing career and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?”

And I added one of my own to make it 40.

Crucial Writing Advice for Beginners
1. Lisa Cron, author of Wired for Story

I’d tell myself that what grabs readers isn’t beautiful writing, a rip-roaring plot, or surface drama; what grabs readers is what gives those things their meaning and power: the story itself.

And so first you have to create the story, which doesn’t start on page one, but long before it. Because the story is not about an external plot-level change. The story is about an internal change — a change that the protagonist enters the story already needing to make. Thus the protagonist walks onto the first page with a long standing driving desire — an agenda — that she hasn’t been able to achieve because an equally long standing misbelief (about human nature) stands in her way.

And here’s the last thing I wish I’d known: backstory is the most fundamental, present, and meaningful foundation of the story. Or as Faulkner said, “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.”

2. Jane Friedman, writing and publishing coach/blogger

Establish a reading habit that matches roughly what you hope to write and publish. Make it as important as anything else you schedule in your day, and never allow busyness to crowd out the time you devote to consuming other good works.

It’s fine not to finish books or to abandon authors you don’t like, but never stop consuming the genre you want become known in. It raises your writerly IQ and ultimately lays the foundation for better literary citizenship and networking with other authors, editors, and agents. A non-reader is soon outed and left behind in this business.

3. Joe Bunting, founder of The Write Practice

Always be learning.

You think you’re pretty talented. You think you’re pretty smart. And you are. But the best way to fail at being a writer is to spend all your time proving you know what you’re doing rather than learning from the people and resources around you.

Stop posturing. Start practicing. And have fun.

4. Dave Chesson, founder of Kindlepreneur

Start your email list as soon as you can. I spent a couple of years not doing an email list and I can’t help but wonder how many thousands of readers I lost the ability to reach out to because I didn’t start it sooner.

There is no greater book marketing kickstart than sending a new book launch email to your already raving fans.

They’ll buy it, and even leave those crucial reviews. So, if you decide you’re going to write more than one book, setting up your email list as soon as possible is key to growing your success with each book you write.

5. Bridget McNulty, co-founder of Now Novel

Getting published is really exciting, but it’s not the point of writing.

The actual writing is what it’s all about — the daily joy in sitting down to a blank page and crafting something beautiful or funny or heartwrenching or even just blah (depending on the day).

While getting a book (and articles, and stories) published is a great ego boost, the real meaning in writing comes from the words flowing out of your fingertips — and the sense of achievement in a finished project.

6. Randy Ingermanson, novelist and creator of The Snowflake Method of plotting

You get good at writing by following these three simple steps:

1) Write a lot. The more you write, the more you’ll tune in to your unique voice and the better you’ll get.

2) Get critiqued occasionally. You should never pay any attention to what your mother says about your writing, or what anyone who loves you says about your writing, because all those people are liars. You should pay attention only to people who know what good writing is and who also know how to critique bad writing. Many who know good writing don’t have any idea how to critique bad writing and will not be able to help you.

Also be aware that many people who know how to critique bad writing would not recognize good writing if it stabbed them in the eye. This is tragic, but deal with it. You are looking for somebody who has both of these skills, and those people are rare.

You need to be told when your writing is bad and why it’s bad, because when you start writing, your work will be awful and you will imagine it’s brilliant. You also need to be told when your writing is brilliant, because by the time your writing is brilliant, you will have been told so many times that your writing is bad that you’ll imagine you are the worst writer who ever lived.

It’s just a fact that all bad writers think they are amazing and all great writers think they are terrible. And that’s why you need to be critiqued occasionally. Don’t do this every day.  It hurts too much. A little critique goes a long way.

3) Study the craft of writing in books, lectures, or wherever else you can learn it. You most especially need to do this after getting critiqued.

You can’t figure it out on your own. Find a book that explains in clear words how to do right what you are doing wrong. When you finish the book, you will again believe in yourself enough to go back to step 1 and write a bunch more.

And have fun!

Need help fine-tuning your writing? Click here to download my free self-editing checklist.
7. K.M. Weiland, novelist and writing coach
K.M. Weiland
I would want my younger self to realize that as wonderful as publication is, it isn’t the point of the writing process.

It’s just a stop along the road. Writing is more about the journey than the destination. As award-winning author Anne Lamott points out, “Being published isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Writing is.” So don’t let your non-published status get you down. Just enjoy where you are right now.

8. Bryan Collins, writing coach

I’d say start publishing your work online and showing it to people even if it’s not ready or perfect.

I spent years writing short stories and trying to get my sentences just right. I rarely showed them to anyone and I didn’t get the feedback I needed to improve as a writer. Instead, I stuffed my drafts in a drawer.

It was only after I started writing online that I discovered I’m better at — and prefer — writing non-fiction. If I’d learnt that lesson ten years ago, I would have saved myself a lot of time.

Still, sometimes you have to make mistakes to fall forward.

9. Rachelle Gardner, literary agent

Take your time.

There’s no rush to get published.

The more time you spend writing, reading, and learning to be a better writer, the better things will go for you.

Don’t try to hurry it along.

10. Ann Handley, author of Everybody Writes

I’d tell myself that the best writing serves the reader — not the writer.

Our job as writers is to make more sense of the world, to paraphrase Anne Lamott and E.B. White and a million other writers.

So even when you’re writing about your own life and your own experiences from your own point of view, you’re nonetheless exposing something real and true and universal.

So make each sentence (and every word in that sentence) earn its keep: Is this sentence indulgent? Or does it help the reader? Does it explain, elucidate, or elevate the truth?

Get out of your head and into your reader’s.

11. Joanna Penn, novelist and writing coach
Joanna Penn
Schedule time to write, show up for that meeting with yourself, and put words onto the page.

It doesn’t matter if those words aren’t very good — they probably won’t be, but that’s OK because you can make them better when you edit them later.

But you can’t edit a blank page, so get your butt into the chair and write!

Need help with time management? Click here to download my free guide: How to Maximize Your Writing Time.
12. Gabriela Pereira, author and founder of DIY MFA
Gabriela Pereira
I would say: “Dream big, execute small.”

These words of wisdom are not my own but they have become a mantra for me.

Creative success requires both a big vision and small, deliberate steps.

Audacious goals aren’t reached without persistent action.

13. Joel Friedlander, founder of The Book Designer

Getting into the habit of sitting down and writing every day is essential.

A writer is someone who writes, and the only path to improving your craft and finding both satisfaction and success in your writing is to keep doing it.

Try to write at the same time each day, and don’t worry too much about whether what your writing is good or not — just keep writing.

14. Lisa Tener, book development coach

Develop your spiritual practices.

They are the greatest support for your writing and your creativity.

With them, you will write with greater ease, break through blocks more easily, and have the stamina to write consistently and from your heart.

15. Carol Tice, founder of Make a Living Writing

Dive in and be scared later.

Simply take action and don’t overthink where this might end up.

Think of something scarier than writing your piece, and it’ll be a breeze by comparison.

Instead of feeling scared to take action, think of everything you do as a writer like it’s a science experiment. “I’ll write this and send it off and see what happens, mwahaha.” Then, learn from that and do better.

16. C.S. Lakin, author and writing coach
C.S. Lakin
I would say to myself: “You are way too cocky.

You think you know how to write a novel because you’ve read thousands of them. You need to stop trying to publish your terrible manuscript and spend time learning the craft.

There is actually a thing called structure, and you don’t know it.

Get every good book there is on writing craft, attend workshops and retreats, and, for God’s sake, be humble! Take advice. Be teachable.”

17. Tara Lazar, children’s author
Tara Lazar
Stop being in such a rush. Slow down and work on your craft.

I wanted the agent and the deal to happen immediately. Yesterday.

Read. Write. Learn.

It will happen for you if you take the time to master your craft.

18. James Scott Bell, novelist and writing coach

Don’t be so impatient!

It takes time to develop your craft.

You spent your 20s believing what so many told you, that you can’t learn to write. But then you tried, and you discovered you CAN learn.

Keep learning. Keep writing.

Want to write a book but don’t know where to start? Click here to download my free guide: How to Write a Book: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Steps.
19. Debbie Ohi, children’s author

Don’t use your introversion as an excuse.

Yes, you may prefer to hide out in your creative cave, dreading learning to network and talk to people you don’t know. If you get out and starting practicing now, then your path will be that much smoother.

Start by joining the writers groups and getting to know others in the community.

It may be terrifying at first but it will get easier, and you’ll be surprised at how much fun you’ll have, the friends you’ll make.

20. Jennie Nash, founder of Author Accelerator

I would tell my younger self to listen to the wise elders who told me that I could make a career in the writing world.

I spent so long doubting myself, and making excuses, and waiting for someone to roll out a red carpet, and circling around the actual writing by doing jobs that were “writing adjacent.” All that delay and doubt cost me.

I recently launched a book coaching company, and we inspire writers to believe they can actually do it, and help them take the steps toward making their dreams a reality.

It feels like I’ve come full circle.

21. Chris Fabry, novelist and radio host, author of Under a Cloudless Sky

I would actually go back to my childhood and encourage myself to pay more attention to details.

Listen and observe more closely.

You think sitting at your grandmother’s kitchen table and listening to your uncles tell stories is fun.

These are seeds being sown into your soul. Soak up everything. You will use all you’re hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling.

When you’re an author you will draw from these holy moments. All great storytelling begins in childhood.

[Chris’s blog on how to make it as a writer.]

22. Les Edgerton, novelist and writing coach

In Jim Harrison’s words:

“Read the whole of western literature for the past 400 years.

If time allows, read the whole of eastern literature for the same time period.

For, if one cannot tell what passed for good in the past, one cannot tell what passes for good now.”

23. DiAnn Mills, novelist and writing coach

I would tell myself that my writing career isn’t about me.

True success can never be about the writer.

Fulfilling the calling is about reaching readers with an excellent story that entertains, inspires, and encourages.

Writing is about putting reader needs first, which means constantly educating myself in the craft, social media, and the publishing industry.

24. Angela Hunt, author and writing coach

The experts don’t always know best.

You can build a readership of people who like to read in different genres.

You have to stop writing sometimes to have a life that will fuel your writing. Other avocations can scratch a different creative itch and fuel your writing as well.

Fast writing might be sloppy writing, but it ends with a result that can be cleaned up and rewritten as many times as necessary. Go at your own pace, but go!

Writing is hard.

Anyone can string words together, but imbuing those words with the power to touch a heart and change a life — that takes work, talent, and skill. And perseverance. Most of all, perseverance.

25. Steve Laube, literary agent

There is no such thing as an instant book.

A book can be published quickly, but that is the exception, not the rule.

26. Philip Yancey, author

“Do not attempt this act alone.”

Yes, writing is a solitary act, performed in isolation. But the editing process needs different sets of eyes to help clarify the writer’s vision and meaning.

The grouchiest curmudgeons make the best editors; praise feels good, but only criticism helps me improve.

27. Gloria Kempton, author and writing coach

My advice to my new writing self would be the mythologist, Joseph Campbell’s, words, Follow your bliss: “Gloria, rather than following publishing trends or dictates of the Christian publishing industry, stay close to your personal truth as it comes to you when you sit down to write. Listen, not to the many publishing ’experts’ about how to craft your message, and how to sneak that message into everything you write.

Instead, explore the questions that rise within your soul that will lead you to a more meaningful writing path, one of integrity and passion for the truth that is uniquely yours as a child of God.

When you sit down to write, assume you know nothing. Become curious. Investigate. Inquire. Your mission is not to tell readers who they are and what they should believe; your mission is to ask the important questions and give readers the opportunity to explore those for themselves.”

Need help fine-tuning your writing? Click here to download my free self-editing checklist.
28. Allen Arnold, author, speaker, former publisher

I would tell my younger self that no great art was ever created without great heart.

In the creative process, the heart of the storyteller takes priority over everything else including formulas, word count, social media, and productivity.

So, first live well; then write well.

Allow God to awaken your own hearts before you ask your art to stir the hearts of others. That will infuse your stories with an eternal spark that transcends you and transforms others.

29. Saundra Dalton-Smith, author, speaker, physician

Focus on establishing a relationship with potential readers before you consider writing a book.

Blog, share on YouTube, participate in social media, or even have an email newsletter list.

Start building your tribe years before writing the first book proposal.

Your unique story will draw your tribe to you. The more your readers feel they are part of your story the more likely they are to share with others.

30. Becca Puglisi, author of The Emotion Thesaurus
Becca Puglisi
Don’t be afraid to say Yes.

The journey to becoming a writer can be daunting. There’s so much to do and learn, and it’s easy to look at other opportunities as distractions, particularly if you’re not totally comfortable doing them. Step out of your comfort zone and stretch yourself.

New challenges will grow you as a author and take you farther than you imagined possible. Saying Yes might be the first step in mastering a difficult area of the craft, expanding your writing options, meeting other authors who will be integral to your growth, becoming an international speaker, or selling way more books than you ever thought possible.

So when an opportunity presents itself that might seem scary or even impossible, don’t dismiss it outright. Instead, consider what it might offer. Will it teach you a worthwhile skill, give you a chance to try something new, or require you to do something that makes you nervous? If so, it might be a good idea after all.

31. William Noble, author and writing coach, attorney

Don’t assume you must follow a predetermined writer’s path, that you will be a novelist or a poet or a playwright or a journalist, and you will concentrate on this form of writing only.

Try all forms of writing, don’t pre-type yourself, produce fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, playscripts, essays, profiles, humor, memoir, and biography.

Eventually, the shape of your talent will emerge from how you have tested yourself.

32. Steven James, author and speaker

I would confirm to my younger self that story always trumps structure.

Numerous books tell how to plot and structure a story; however, these can end up derailing the story.

It’s tempting to utilize them instead of following the organic process of story shaping, but it’s vital that you let the story inform the direction of your writing. Fear will always drive you back to an outline.

Part of the artistic process is learning to channel that fear into creativity and not confine yourself because of it.

33. Michele Cushatt, author, speaker, emcee

Write for the love of writing itself, not what writing might afford you.

The writers who endure are those who can’t not write, the ones for whom contracts and publication are secondary rewards.

Rather than aiming at recognition, they chase understanding. They lean into the struggle, learn to marvel at the untangling of complexities and the transcendence of unforgettable stories.

Writing holds the power to transform you and the way you see the world in a way few other human experiences can. This is the real reward, the one that lasts long after the lights go out.

34. Marion Roach Smith, memoir writing coach

“Discipline.”

The clear, hard, cold fact is that without discipline all the inspiration and rituals, lucky pencils, good views out the window, and all those other things you think you have to have before you write, won’t bring you anything of value. They simply will not sustain you the way discipline will.

I’d tell myself that with humor and grace, however, and not a bit sternly.

No young writer should be spoken to with the least amount of stern admonition, but rather with enormous encouragement and support.

Need help with time management? Click here to download my free guide: How to Maximize Your Writing Time.
35. Patricia Raybon, author, writer, teacher
Patricia Raybon
Write daily. But not just for productivity. Write to discover yourself, getting reintroduced to the human being you’re blessed to be — that person indwelled with something of value to offer the world.

Don’t publish daily. Rather, publish regularly — fine-tuning what you want to say to the world and how to say it.

Bluster, brawling and bravado? No. Kindness, motivation and encouragement. Yes.

Even as I write this reflection for author friend Jerry Jenkins, I’m reminded why daily writing matters. It’s a bonus tool — helping unearth your brand, purpose, message, values, and audience. Therefore, write. In journals. In letters. On the grocery list taped to your refrigerator. Write something down. Today. You’ll grow as a writer. Even better? You’ll grow as a person. Your readers and your career will thank you.

36. Brandilyn Collins, novelist and writing teacher
Brandilyn Collins
Brandilyn, you’re embarking on a very difficult journey.

You’ll have some highs and lots of lows. The writing business/industry will be all over the map, and no matter what you sell, you’re likely to always want more.

Remember — this is not about you. Your writing for the Christian market — writing novels that portray God’s grace and power — is for Him.

God will do with these books as He chooses. God will use the words you write to change people’s lives for eternity. And that’s something no price tag could ever cover.

Follow His will for your writing. Continue to work hard on your craft. Work hard on marketing. Give God your best. Then leave the results to Him.

37. Julie Duffy, founder of Story a Day

Don’t wait to write until you’re older/wiser/invited to the party.

Don’t wait until you have something “important” to say. You are living now, and you’ll never be able to recapture the feeling of being 15, 22, 36…not really. The things that matter to you now, won’t matter in the same way when you’re older, and the things that matter to you when you’re older won’t necessarily be more important. You might know more, but that won’t make you more interesting or important. Write now.

Don’t wait, because when you do have something important to say, you won’t want your writing to be rusty. Your writing will change and evolve, and when you get stuck you will seek out the mentors and teachers you need to move you to the next stage.

Don’t wait, because the best ideas come when you’re writing. You will never, never run out of ideas, as long as you keep writing.

Don’t wait for anyone to tell you to write. Whether or not anyone ever pays you to write, or asks you to contribute, or gives you permission to sneak off and steal an hour or two to tell stories on paper, writing is a part of you. You are more fully yourself when you accept and embrace that. You’re easier to live with when you’re writing, so claim the time you need, and don’t wait. Make it a priority to do the writing, rather than to worry about whether you’ll ever make a career of it. Don’t put the cart before the horse, my girl!

Oh, and you’re going to love this thing called the Internet.

38. Randy Alcorn, inspirational author

Write only those books you are absolutely convinced God wants you to. Not just books that are good ideas, but ideas that you’re personally passionate about and fit your heart, convictions, wiring, and style, not someone else’s.

It’s great to listen to publishers and others, hear their ideas, and modify yours as long as you can retain a sense of ownership so it really remains your book. Never write a book you can’t pour yourself into 100%. Even 90% isn’t enough, because when you hit the rough spots, your heart needs to be totally in it.

39. Jessica Strawser, author and editor-at-large, Writer’s Digest

Having since learned the power of tapping into networks of fellow writers — through genre-based organizations, conferences, Facebook groups, in-person groups, any way you can — my advice would be to find and grow your tribe as early and as well as you’re able.

Their support will buoy you at every stage, and through giving as good as you get, you’ll stay connected to the joy of the craft even when you’re feeling the heat beyond the page.

40. Jerry Jenkins, novelist and biographer, owner, Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild

Before submitting anything, be sure you’re happy with every word.

Become an aggressive, even ferocious self-editor.

From HERE

How to Write Better: 7 Instant Fixes

How to Write Better: 7 Instant Fixes

By Mary Jaksch



Do you worry whether your writing is good enough?

I can see you nodding your head.

You are not alone. Every writer has doubts about his or her writing.

The good thing is that writing is a journey. Every sentence you write is a step along the road and makes you a better writer.

On this journey, you can either travel the long road – or use shortcuts.

Using shortcuts means learning to spot and fix mistakes in order to write better.

Here are seven instant fixes that will improve your writing.

But … what is good writing?

Inexperienced writers think that ‘good’ writing is elaborate.

No, good writing is simple.

1: The art of natural

Check out an example of elaborate writing below (I’ve sourced examples of writing from free Kindle books chosen at random).

This is from a story about a young girl who is at home with her young brother when a thunderstorm strikes. The lights go out. Here’s how the writer describes the scene:

An ebony abyss claimed the den.

I take this to mean, “The room went dark.”

Maybe the author consulted a Thesaurus to create a sentence with special words. But all she achieved was to throw the reader out of the story.

If you want to keep the reader immersed in your story or article, you need to write as simply as possible.

Avoid writing that calls attention to itself.

Your words should sound natural. Just imagine answering your neighbor’s question about last night’s power-cut with: “An ebony abyss claimed the den.”

I reckon you’d get a strange look …

The fix:

Read each sentence aloud to see if it sounds natural or contrived.

2: Is it obvious?
When you start editing your piece of writing, cut out everything that’s already implicit. Look at the following sentence:

The only luminescence came in the form of the full moon which shone down from a starry sky.

I imagine the writer was trying to say something like: “The only light came from the full moon.”

In general, the moon shines from above, agreed? So, when the author writes, “…which shone down from a starry sky”, he’s stating what is already obvious.

The fix

Grab your word-knife and cut out what is redundant.

3: Tight is good
Take a look at this excerpt from a suspense novel that reads like a Real Estate ad:

The late afternoon sun streamed through the balcony-facing, floor-to-ceiling windows.

By the time the reader has stumbled through the words ‘balcony-facing’ and ‘floor-to-ceiling’, any suspense has long evaporated.

To keep your readers’ attention, you need to shake loose and discard unnecessary words.

The fix

Cut out all adjectives and adverbs and re-insert only those that are absolutely necessary.


4: Deliver in small doses

Do you sometimes throw a lot of information at your readers all at once?

Careful!

Take a look at this example:

Ron was the spoiled, playboy son of a local multi-millionaire home improvement chain-store owner.

 It looks like the author wanted to squeeze a lot of information into one sentence. Here’s the information she wanted to convey:

Ron was spoiled

He was a playboy

He lived in the same town as his father

His father was a multi-millionaire

His father ran a home-improvement business

The store his father owned was part of a chain.

That’s a lot of information crammed into one sentence!

If you need to give background information, make sure you do it in small doses.

The fix

Look for all sentences that contain more than two or three pieces of information about a person or a place. Use additional sentences to drip-feed the background information.

5: Become a killer (of clichés)

Take a look at the following clichés:

“The rosy fingers of dawn touched the distant hills.”

“I smiled at him as I told my little white lie and he took it hook, line, and sinker.”

Clichés are predictable and cheapen your writing.

The fix:

Hunt down and kill any clichés. Be ruthless.

6: Make color count
New writers love eye-popping colors:

The emerald river wound its way through the dusty hills which were dirty off-white tinged with streaks of brownish yellow.

I’m sure you agree that there is too much color in the sentence above. Make color count by using it sparingly.

The fix

Delete superfluous colors in your descriptions.

7: Unpack sentences

A simple guide to better writing is to focus on one idea per sentence. Long sentences make reading a drag. Here is an example:

The lawyer, now that his client had pleaded guilty, was faced with the problem of concealing his own part in the criminal act, a mistake in judgment that, while it was done with the best of intentions, was nonetheless a violation of his oath as an attorney, a violation that might conceivably result in his indictment, and even a prison term.

There are so many ideas in this sentence that it’s difficult to follow.

Here is a simple rule about length: sentences should not contain more than twenty to thirty words. (Of course, rules like this one beg to be broken – but break them with care).

The fix

Hunt for your long sentences and work on them as follows:

Get rid of unnecessary words.
Where there is a comma, check if it could be a full stop.
Where you see the word ‘which’, see if you could start a new sentence.
Reword and rephrase.
As you can see from these seven fixes, it’s easy to improve your writing. Once you know which mistakes to look for in your writing, you can correct and avoid them.

Warning: in all of this lies a danger.
If you focus on mistakes when you are in the flow of writing, you’ll cramp your creativity. Apply the fixes only after you’ve created something. Here is contrary advice for your first drafts:

Let your writing be full, wild, and bad: the badder, the better.

Put what you’ve written aside. Wait for at least one day. Then apply the seven instant fixes above – and transform your writing into a thing of beauty.

If you are wondering how to write better – follow these tips and you will be amazed how your writing improves.

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