Laurawrites.net

Writing isn’t easy. There are many difficulties and struggles involved. Non-writers seldom appreciate what it takes to put 80,000 to 100,000 words down in a grammatically correct and interesting order. Often it seems they simply believe you make words and you’re done. Unless you are used to producing such extended works, there will be temptations along the way.

This pattern will probably emerge after a period of intense work. You will start to doubt the book’s strengths. You may start looking for corners you can cut and finish more quickly. You may omit information that requires research. You may skip through parts you assume are correct so you can finish editing faster. You may even decide to leave it to fate, once you reach the point of exhaustion. It may come in many forms, some are thinking, “If it’s meant to be, it will be. It’s better to take a chance and fail than to never take that chance at all.”

This is a professionally dangerous area for a writer to be in and you should stop before you start to believe your career is ruled by chance. This belief can leave you open for many rejections, solely because you didn’t use a period instead of a comma. Save yourself this frustration and take a break.

The on-going practice in writing is that you create what you enjoy reading. If you devour a romance novel in one sitting, the odds are that your romance will be the best work you create. If you enjoy the chills of a horror novel, then you’ve found your genre. When you start writing, you should always navigate towards the genre you love to read.

Your work should be enjoyable to read and to write. There will be work, but it should be something you like to do. For an example of this, we’ll discuss Anna. She adores baking and always has. She spends her free time testing new recipes and creating new flavor combinations in her cakes and breads. One day she decides to open her own bakery and it is a successful venture.

Anna must now devote more time to non-baking activities. She must discuss budgeting with her accountant. She must find skilled employees to run her shop and work in her kitchen. She must find the best ingredients at the most affordable prices. In a nutshell, Anna is doing what she adores, but it isn’t all fun and merriment. There will be duties and “chores” for the writer as well. Contracts are about as much fun as a blood test, but they are part of the formula.

Legalities, copyright information, ISBN numbers, and everything else will become a part of your life. In a few instances, you can hire a professional to do the work for you, but few writers have the means to do this. Much of this information will be discussed later on in this book. There will be creative strategies that will hopefully lessen the tedium of these focuses.

The biggest mistakes made by writers or authors are those most simple to remedy: spelling, grammar, and consistency. They can be attributed to both laziness and haste. They don’t seem very important when compared to plot, style, or consistency, but they cause more authors to be rejected than anything else.

These areas are so troublesome because they are frequently ignored. Many non-fiction authors creating books on writing push such things as style or technique over the importance of grammar. Don’t allow simple mistakes to ruin your professional opportunities!