One of the most important things you can do as a writer is, you guessed it, to write! The professionals in this industry that I know personally write a few thousand words a day. In my spare time when Iraq was drawing down, I was able to knock out ten to fourteen pages a day in my latest novel. Now, back in the real world, writing has to be placed in the echelon with everything else; it has to be budgeted into your schedule.
Think of it this way, we as humans, are creatures of habit. Depending on what type of person you are, and how important the matter-at-hand is to you, it can take anywhere from ten days to six weeks for a habit to form. One of your main habits as a writer is to simply write. It does not matter for how long you write, or how often. What matters is that you do it consecutively, meaning that you are not allowing long periods of time in between your writing sessions.
A funny thing happens when you start to write often; you start to learn more about the craft. You begin to see (and hear feedback from your audience) what works and what does not work. Simple repeated mistakes, such as the common misuse of words like "Weather and Whether" or "Lose and Loose" are made known throughout consistent writing. It is the attention to detail that we pay the writing Gods that helps us to master the craft, thus turning us into great writers.
I read a phrase today in an article about novel writing. The author mentioned that it is not the joy of having your book turned into something physical that keeps a real writer continuing in the path. Rather it is the process of writing the story. The ability to express yourself, without rules or boundaries that keeps the student on the path of the dying art.
Dying art you say? Yes, writing is a dying art. The other day my college professor told me that she sees few students studying for a degree in english. She said there are good number of courses out in the education field to pursue and that and english degree is not really sought after. She was not saying this to get me down. Rather she was mentioning this out of a slight shock that someone is attempting to pursue a degree in a dying field. One of the reasons is the way we communicate changes faster than what we teach in school's. Another is that the english language itself changes so quickly with the use of email and text messaging. It is as though we, as a human race are short changing ourselves.
We strive to find more shortcuts all the time, all the while not paying attention to what we are sacrificing. English is a dying language and I am one of the few who would see it preserved. Also, I have found within my own path as a writer, that in order for me to further my career, I needed to go back to school and seek formal training. I can write good, but I have a habit of making elementary mistakes.
In conclusion, If you want to pursue the craft of writing, finding your weaknesses and conquering them is part of continuing on that path. Below I am going to list a few simple steps that you can do to incorporate writing into your daily life. Before you know it, your habits will dictate your schedule in a way that will bring your life less worry about putting writing off. One more thing I learned recently with ForeverVerse (my next book to be released) is story's are not plot driven. They are character driven. If you create a story revolved around the characters, the plot will create itself. If you create a story based strictly off of plot, thereby inserting characters as the plot demands, you will have a mess on your hands. So, onto the advice?
1- Find a set time each day and dedicate as little as ten minutes to write.
2- Spend equal amounts of time reading as you do writing each day.
3- When you start to write, close all tabs that are logged on with a social media site.
4- Turn off your TV when you start to write.
5- Proofread your work when you are done writing it, not during.
6- Log in your hours each week until you have dedicated atleast twleve hours of writing a week.
Just for your knowledge, the average NY Times best seller writes eight hours a day, producing almost 10,000 words in this time frame. Stephen King says that if you are going to write a book, the first draft should be completed within three months. If you want to write, have discipline.
Anthony Farina
https://www.facebook.com/anthony.farina.526?ref=tn_tnmn
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