10 Things I Wish I Knew As a Novice Writer
10. As Writers We Don’t Choose to Write, We Have to Write!
As I sit here at my writing desk reflecting on my writing journey I find it hard to believe that I’ve been writing professionally now for nearly two decades. Generally speaking, it’s actually been longer than that because the writing bug bit me as far back as I can remember.
Essentially, I began my writing journey writing poetry in middle school and high school. Many of my English teachers back then always complemented me on my writing, and on my ability to express my feelings and organize my thoughts through the written word.
I’ll admit, when I first started writing I had no idea I would end up where I am today in this whole writing life.
Since all those years ago I’ve had numerous professional writing jobs, and have even published a few books of my own. And I even have a few more book projects in the works from the time of this article — which you will definitely want to stay tuned for.
Simply put, in all of my years of living this writing life and experiencing this writing journey, I’ve made many mistakes!
If I had a time machine and could go back and tell my nineteen to twenty year old self ten things about writing that I wished I would have known back then, this is what they would be.
1. Learn The Basics of Writing Before You Even Attempt a Writing Career
I cannot stress this enough, even if you feel that writing comes naturally to you (and maybe it does, that’s good!), it is important to learn and understand the mechanics of writing — such as sentence structure, parts of speech, punctuation and grammar, and so on.
I highly recommend taking writing classes, attending writer’s workshops, and reading books on the subject and craft of writing as much as possible.
In short, if a writing career is what you are aiming for, then you will need to do these things eventually. Might as well as start now.
2. Review! Unclutter! Edit Again!
A writing piece is almost never done after the first draft is complete. I don’t…
