In today’s video and blogpost, I will share 3 tips to help you become a better writer.

I will share my own journey and common fears that most writers have and how to over come them.

Listen to the video below, or scroll down to keep reading…

Learn 3 Tips to Help You Become a Better Writer…

Tip #1: Don’t write like anyone else. Write like yourself.

You are unique and rare. It’s a little like your hair color or your eye color… those are uniquely you. If you have freckles on your nose, that’s another part of you that is unique.

With writing, the reason you are rare goes much deeper.

Your writing comes from somewhere deep within your soul.
It’s not visible unless you draw it out of yourself.
This is done with time, dedicated practice and care about yourself and your ideas.

The only way to really draw out your writing voice is by reading and by continuing to practice writing.

Stephen King says: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.

Your uniqueness will come out in your writing voice… because your voice comes from your unique background, your life history; your experiences, your worldview and your unique way of saying things.

All of that combined, is what brings out your rare writing voice.

TIP #2: Keep going even when you want to quit.

Writing takes quite a lot of perseverance.

And there are many days (aka most days) when many emotions go through you that might make you to want to quit writing.

Emotions such as:
1. Fear(that you’ll be rejected by people you know or readers in general)
2.Intimidation (maybe you’ve never written before and you’re intimidated by writing itself- thinking the words you string together might not be good enough). But it’s not true. Just write the first draft you can always fix it later.
3.Comparing yourself to other writers (perhaps you look at other writers whom you admire and think I will never be able to be a great writer).
Here’s the encouraging part: No writer ever was born knowing how to write. Every well-known writer – all the writers you admire — started at zero. They didn’t know how to write — but they had ideas and a dream to write. And they persevered and continued to practice and write their books.

When you are feeling fear intimidation or when you feel not good-enough to be a writer… remember this quote.

“It’s only those who are persistent, and willing to study things deeply, who achieve the Master Work.” Paulo Coelho ~ The Alchemist

So keep on going. When you feel the fear or intimidation or feeling not -good enough… remind yourself of your dream of writing.

Remind yourself that with practice — doing a little writing everyday — you get a little closer everyday to your dream.
That’s better than not trying and not writing — and giving up on your dream to be a writer isn’t it?

Don’t quit because of fear, intimidation or feeling like you’re not good enough and that you might fail… most of our fears not going to come true.

I’m doing the same thing. I’m writing everyday, because I believe that my writing and words I write will be impactful to people and give them hope and bring happiness to their lives.

I hope you continue to write too.

 

Tip #3: Write a Lot.

The more you write — the more you practice your writing craft — the better you will become at writing.

Read books in your favourite genres and really understand what it is the draws readers to read those books.

For example in the sweet romance genre I write with my pen name — readers are looking to read the genre to be inspired that true love can be found for anyone — at any age — and that true loves can heal wounds of the past.

It’s the practice of writing that really helps you become a better writer.

This is true in real life as well.

I can use an example from my own life here:

I used to take a lot of piano lessons. I started lessons when I was 5 years old… and continued those lessons through out high school and then when I was in University getting my Bachelor of Music degree.

Up until the age of 13 years of age – I practised 30 minutes for 5 days a week.
When I turned 13 and began jr high and high school – it increased to 1 hour a day.

When I got to university – I was practising the piano 2 Hours a day.

However all those hours of practice helped me to play better. And eventually I was able to play the Chopin and Mozart classical pieces I really wanted to play.

This applies to writing too.

How do you master writing?
By writing stories.
By being willing to not be perfect… but instead to practice and to try.

When you have written a story — you go back through your 1st draft — and you look for places where you skipped steps — like story structure — or where you went off the path.
If you do that enough times and with enough stories, eventually you’ll learn and become a master storyteller.

I like what Dwight V. Swain says in his book “Techniques of the Selling Writer” about the practice of writing:

“Each story will give you more experience to translate into literary process. Each trick mastered will free you just a little more from your feelings of inadequacy and frustration. Finally your excitement soars, unshackled, and to your own amazement you discover that somehow, in spite of everything, you’ve turned out to be a writer.”

The More quantity you produce — you are increasing your sense of proficiency as well as increasing your word count.

You will get better with time.

So stick with your plan.

So being to write your story today. It won’t be perfect… but it will be worth it to have begun. You’ll feel so much better about yourself and you’ll feel motivated that you can do this.

 

Happy Writing! 🙂