Rituals and Routines. Productivity. Late Bloomers. First Drafts and Revisions. Tips and Advice. The Writers Speak. Motivation to Write: 7 Fundamental Needs of Writers And How to Leverage Them. View.writers-community. We're nearly one week in to National Novel Writing Month. Have you been writing? Other than January, November is one of the most productive months for writers all across the nation (and the globe). Because of this, we have more practical advice in today's newsletter on writing a book in 30 days, as well as some excellent tips on writing a killer book proposal (which is almost as important as writing a great book).
Also, for all the science fiction and fantasy writers out there, we have an amazing online boot camp starting on Monday that will put your writing right in front of literary agents. Finally, if you got to WritersDigest.com, you'll notice there's be a slight redesign. Write Like a Drunk Child | Owen Egerton. My five-year-old loves asking me to make up a name of an animal that doesn't exist, something like an orangashark or a poopapotmus. Then, without missing a beat, he'll describe in great detail the physical attributes, dietary needs, and mating habits of the rare and deadly poopapotmus. You ask your average adult to make up an encyclopedia entry for an as-yet-unheard-of creature and he'll sputter, cough, and say he can't think of anything. Of course, that's a lie. There're over eighty billion synapses firing across our brains every second. We are, quite literally, always thinking of something -- billions of somethings.
So what's the difference between the five-year-old and the 35-year-old? Judgment. Somewhere around the age of puberty we develop a sense of judgment. Judgment is not a bad thing. As a writer I use judgment in my editing and revising. But when I'm facing that blank screen, I don't need the Bouncer slapping down every other idea. But I want those ideas from the back of my brain. 8 Signs That You Were Meant to Be a Writer. Are you meant to be a writer? Do you ever wonder if you were truly meant to be a writer? Deep down you sense that it might just be so. But then doubt creeps in, and you just aren’t sure. You look at your writing. You realize that you aren’t where you want to be. Maybe you just aren’t good enough? A great writer would be further along by now, right?
Wrong. If you’re reading this, chances are you were meant to be a writer. Here are 8 signs that you were meant to be a word wizard. 1. You secretly dream about writing. And if you already write, you dream about doing something bigger, like writing a novel, or scoring that big freelancing client. You dream about more, bigger, better. Deep inside you know you can do it, but that pesky little voice stops you. 2. Yes, doubt is a sign that you were meant to be a writer. If you didn’t have anything to say, you wouldn’t even think about writing, but you do have something to say, and you know it. But doubt stops you. However, doubt is just a thought popping up. The Four Essential Stages of Writing. Image by photosteve101 In last week’s post, 7 Habits of Serious Writers, I mentioned the importance of actually writing, plus the need to redraft.
I thought it’d be worth putting those stages into context – because they’re not all you need for an effective piece. Every finished piece of writing passes through four stages: PlanningDraftingRedraftingEditing Sure, you can publish a blog post without doing any planning, or any rewriting and editing. I wouldn’t call that “finished”, myself. The four stages don’t always have to be tackled in order. But it’s crucial to be clear about what each stage involves.
Stage #1: Planning Image by Dvortygirl You’re already planning your writing – whether or not you realise it. Some written pieces don’t need any more planning than that: you’ve got the idea in your head, pretty much complete. When you’re working on a project where you already know the subject matter – an ebook, for instance, or a memoir – then it’s worth planning in some detail. Better Planning.