Writer on Writing

"If you wish to be a better writer, write."
--Epictetus

But here are a few other things I've found helpful over the years.

1. DON'T EDIT. Not at all, if you can help it. Not until the entire first draft is done. It is always so tempting to fuss and fidget with a sentence instead of getting new words on paper.

2. GET WORDS ON PAPER. 50-100-250-1000... set yourself a doable *daily* goal and then do it. Daily. Writing is a muscle that gets flabby and out of shape faster than anything else. The operative word is doable, though. If you have a day job and a busy social life or a husband and fifteen kids, you may not be able to get 20 pages a day written. But you'll still probably have time to write one. It's like when you start any exercise program---you may want to run a marathon, but if you try running a marathon on your first day of training you will become utterly discouraged and you'll fail completely...and never want to run again. And when you meet your daily goal? (It's good to set weekly/monthly ones too) Do something for yourself. Maybe for your daily goals you buy a box of gold stars and stick them on a calendar every day you make it. Weekly? Maybe a food/drink treat. Monthly? A manicure. Or a new book.

3. Don't worry about what other people think. In later drafts, you can have people read and tell you where the plot holes are, or what needs fixing, or what doesn't make sense. If you ask for any of that too soon in the process, it is easy to become discouraged--or distracted. At the same time, it is great to have another writer friend you trust, who you can talk to about being a writer. The highs, the lows, the great inspiration you had, the day you sat and worked even though you wanted to do something else... it's not about telling them all the details of your story, necessarily, it's about knowing there are other people going through similar things. Writing is a lonely job. It's always good to have friends who know what that feels like. (It's important this writer friend and you are not competitive, though. Support each other, yes, even challenge each other... but don't compete. The second half of my novel was written while I had meetings with another writer friend once a week. She was just starting her first novel at the time. We didn't even read a word of each other's stuff until after our second--maybe third--drafts were done! But we supported each other like CRAZY. I miss that now, having moved so far away.)

4. It's fantastic when inspiration happens, but if every writer waited to be inspired before actually writing their 50-100-250-1000-???? words for the day, no books would ever get written. Writing is a job. You have to do it even if you're having a bad day. You have to do it even if you feel like everything you're writing is absolute garbage. Words on the page. That's what matters. Quantity is for the first draft; quality is for editing. When that first draft is done, done, done.

5. Lastly (I kind of feel like I could go on forever, but I won't! Ha!) here is a tip that works AMAZINGLY WELL for me, especially when I don't feel like working: Set a timer for ten minutes. Pick up your pen or put your fingers on the keyboard, and DO NOT STOP WRITING until that timer goes off. I've written about this before. It still holds amazingly true.

And a book rec: Seven Steps on the Writer's Path: The Journey from Frustration to Fulfillment by Nancy Pickard and Lynn Lott. It is one of the best books on creating art I've ever read.