|  Remember when writing you don't
need to write in chronological order. Write what you feel like, whether
it is
the beginning, middle or end of your story. There is no point forcing
a good beginning if at that moment you want to write the ending. Do
what you feel like... there are no rules in writing! --Lauren
Pridding
Be prepared to accept that not everything
one writes is going to be accepted and/or appreciated. It is
better to do a little bit each day even if it is one sentence, or
one correction. Sometimes the ideas come and the story flows.
Other times there lies dormant the seeds for more sprouting of fresh
growth. A little tendering goes along way to having the burst of new
growth. Since I started to treat my story as a series of new
growth, I have ceased to worry, and await with optimism the story
to emerge like a new eruption of a silent volcanoe.
--Chris Shearer
At the Iowa
Writers' Workshop, Jim Galvin once said that "talent sleeps late."
To that I add, "always with deadlines, often in drafts." --Julia Beach
Do not listen to your Enemy.
"You cannot write. What, are you nuts? It is too late in life
for you to begin a new career. Too much competition. Look
at how much time it takes to warm up, gather your materials, research,
study, read, do your practice sessions, gather props, complete
just ONE character sketch." Anyway, turn off that negative old
nag and sit down, pen in hand and write something. Anything.
It WILL evolve-with your resolve. *Note to MYSELF! --Carol Bartlett
Remember GALAXY QUEST?
"Never give up...never surrender." A writer should never give
up. They should write, rewrite, submit, resubmit and never give
up until they are published. There is no such thing as "overnight
success" in this trade. It may seem that way when you sell your
first story/article/novel, but if you look back, you will see that
there is a long road behind you. So be patient. It takes
time to become an overnight success. As an author who sold her
first four books in one year after spending nearly twenty-five trying
to sell one, I know this from experience. --L. Underwood
"When
writing a character in fiction, keep in mind the person who inspires
you. It will aid in your work and give your character a voice."
-- M. Krause
"Write like the wind!" -- Jesse
Stuart. Write whenever and wherever you can. Tell your
stories and mentally categorize the people who show interest in them;
those people represent your audience--your publisher's "target market."
Go deep inside yourself and ask, "What do I want to share with
the rest of the world?" and "How can I help make the world a better
place?" Travel, meditate, love everyone and everything you can...nurture
your Muse. And think long and hard about whether you want to
write for a living or whether you would be a more creative writer if
you kept writing as a beloved avocation. Remember T.S. Eliot and William
Carlos Williams. --Doris Ivie
Talent alone will not get your
work published--you must be persistent and relentless in submitting
it.
--Judy
DiGregorio
Reading widely is absolutely
essential in strengthening and maintaining your writing heart and muscles.
Essays, fiction, plays, history, poetry, biographies, and even cookbooks
extend new possibilities in language, story, color, and images. I always
title my poetry classes "Reading and Writing Poetry" to emphasize the
connection between the two. Reading is like yeast, if you will,
allowing so many other elements such as imagination, personal experience,
and memory to combine and breathe life into your work. --Linda Parsons
Marion
Thus great with child to speak,
and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen,
beating myself for spite,
"Fool," said my
Muse to me, "look in thy heart and write."
by Sir Philip Sidney,
"Astrophil and Stella"
--Candance
Reaves
Avoid using empty adverbs,such
as really, very, always, never. If you want to describe how
large the "really big barn" actually is, try simile: Like Carlsbad
Caverns, the barn was filled with silence and whispers of movement.
--J. Pantanizopoulos
A sense of audience is the
key to nonfiction writing. We all hope that our articles or books will
be snatched off the shelves by hundreds of thousands of eager readers,
but the more precisely we can identify who those potential readers
are, the more likely we are to be published, paid, and ultimately read.
As you plan a piece, ask yourself who will find this subject interesting,
who will benefit from the information, who will be willing to pay
to read what you are going to write. Once I've identified an audience,
I like to think of someone I know well who is clearly a member of that
target group and write for him, or more frequently, for her--just like
writing a letter. I try to find the tone, the sentence structure, the
vocabulary that will work for that person. I give an example when I
think she'll need one and go on to the next point when I think she's
ready. Several reviewers said that the tone of "How to Find Help for
a Troubled Kid" was just right--authoritative but never condescending,
helpful, reassuring, and personal. I think that's because I wrote most
of the book with one of my sisters in mind. --John Reaves
Consider the need for every
word, inspect every sentence for structure and clarity, study every
paragraph in terms of conveying the story, and do it painstakingly
slow--at least 6 times. --Timothy Joseph
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