1. Give yourself permission to write. Don’t feel guilty
for ignoring the housework, the laundry or turning down someone who is
requesting more of your time.
2. Select or alter a location that is conducive for your
writing and figure out your best writing time. Is it the splinter of daylight, the
setting sun or a Sunday afternoon? Try to work everything else around your best
writing time.
3. Join a writer’s community. Check your local library or
bookstores for events or meetings. Or join online groups. http://nybookeditors.com/2015/11/11-top-writing-communities-you-should-join-and-why/
4. Find a critique group or partner. We become blind to
our manuscript’s weaknesses, having a fresh set of eyes can give us insight and
help problem solve. Be willing to revise again and again. But learn when to say no. If you’re not a part of a writer’s community, you can find
online critique groups. https://thewritelife.com/find-a-critique-partner/
5. Write or percolate. For some writers, they are most
productive if they write daily, but others prefer to percolate. Ruminating plot
lines, character development or story lines until they are ready to write it
out. There is no “right way” to write.
Do what works for you.
6. Get inspired. Visit an art museum; listen to complex
music; learn something new, sky diving, yoga, carpentry; read a different genre;
if you write fiction, read nonfiction; exercise. Learning or doing something different
gives you a new perspective and stimulates creativity. Exercise stimulates new
thought patterns that foster inspiration.
7. Read books in your genre and age group. Read books on
improving your craft.
8. Learn the difference between early readers and picture
books, middle grade and young adult, young adult and adult fiction, literary
and commercial fiction, mass market or trade publications. Knowing these
differences will help you target agents and editors more effectively.
9. Polish your query and be professional. No gimmicks:
scented paper, confetti, glitter, etc.
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