Things New Writers Need to Know
/
Here’s my list of things new writers need to know (and things I wished I had known when I started.)
Start early. I didn’t think about writing a book until after grad school (and I didn’t get published until my forties).
Find a writing group. You need the support and opportunities that it can provide you. I have met so many amazing and generous people from my writing groups.
Writing is a business, and you have to treat yours like one.
There are a lot of administrative and marketing tasks involved in the life of published authors.
Get serious about your writing and stay focused. Otherwise, you may never finish that book.
Write the first draft. Get it written. Stop revising the first four chapters over and over. You can revise it during the editing stages. (This is why my first book took five years to write.)
Guard your writing time. If you don’t, it will slip it away. I have to treat it as work.
Keep your computers patched and secure. Make sure you have anti-virus software. Back up your files regularly. There is nothing worse than losing a file, especially if it’s your manuscript.
Go through your “how to write” books and keep the ones that speak to you. Give away or sell the others. Sit down and write! (BICFOK - Backside in chair; Fingers on keyboard). I was reading too much about writing and not writing.
Read everything you can get your hands on in your genre.
What would you add to my list?
