Grow Through the Writing Life
December 3rd 2009 01:08
Great Advice for the Writing Life
Today's Quote of the Day is "Don't go through life; grow through life." What a simple yet eloquent statement! It's so easy to just coast along, accepting life as it comes, following the same old boring routine day after day, and never even giving a thought to the rich lessons life has to teach us and the deep areas of personal growth that can result from living life with intention.
Today might just be a great day to pause for a few moments and ponder the significance of these words of wisdom. Perhaps a few questions would help prompt us to apply this great advice to our lives, helping us discover exactly what it means to us as writers to "grow through life."
Growth in the Writing Craft
What would be the next practical growth step for you in developing your skill as a writer?
Would it help you become more mature in the art if you were to
1. Take a writing course (online or at your local community college)?
2. Work with a writing coach or mentor?
3. Research a writing technique or style on the Internet?
4. Join a nearby writer's critique group?
5. Use writing prompts to simply exercise your writing muscle more?
6. Read more excellent writing and learn through osmosis?
7. Blog more (or start a blog)?
8. Do more free-writing, untethering your imagination and allowing it to draw inspiration from deep within while giving your internal editor the day off?
Perhaps you have even better ideas than these -- ideas that are more in tune with where you are in your own personal development as a writer. I would encourage you to give a little thought to some of the ways you might seek to grow in your craft. Doing so will make you a better, more competent writer, which will bring you real personal satisfaction. Whatever kind of writing you do, you'll find many valuable (and often free) resources, both online and off, that can help you grow.
Growth in Your Writing Business
What would the next practical growth step be in your advancement as a writing professional?
Would it help advance your writing career and bring you closer to your professional goals if you were to
1. Start a blog in your niche (or in a new niche that you'd like to break into) to establish yourself as an expert?
2. Write an e-book?
3. Develop your own website to sell your writing services?
4. Prepare an online portfolio of your work?
5. Start a link collection of the work you've had published online and use it in e-mailed job inquiries or on your website as part of your portfolio?
6. Make a list of your satisfied clients and ask them for written recommendations of your work?
7. Prepare various e-mail templates to use when inquiring about writing jobs, rather than reinventing the wheel each time you respond to a job ad?
8. Surf the Internet with an entrepreneurial spirit, seeking websites that might be able to use your writing/editing/web design or other expertise to improve their sites and contacting them to offer your services?
9. Offer editing or other website help to clients who have purchased your work (making your own content look more attractive on their sites and therefore better for use as writing samples for other clients, while improving their sites' appearance and earning a little extra money, as well)?
Many of these ideas are nothing new. Yet they are important techniques for moving forward in the writing profession. No doubt you can think of many more ideas if you use your imagination.
Now, It's Your Turn
The main purpose of the above questions has been to stimulate thought by giving you a few ideas that you can use as a launching pad for a few innovative ideas of your own.
Every writer is different -- Isn't that great news? -- and every writer's situation, goals, and desires are unique to him/her. That's why only you can personalize these ideas and adapt them to your own needs.
Only you can decide what it will take for you to "grow through" the writing life!
Best wishes for your successful growth!!
Jeanne
What ideas do you have for stimulating your own growth as a writer and/or writing professional? Or, which of the above ideas do you think would be helpful for you to implement or adapt to your situation at this point in your growth process? What exactly would it take for you to advance to the next level in either area?
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Comment by dcr writes
Focusing on one thing instead of juggling a dozen different ones was definitely important for me. I've finished plenty of short stories, but novels have always eluded me.
I had a novel I started in the early 90's. I went through about 10 drafts before throwing in the towel. I actually threw it away! I did dig it out of the trash later though. It was one I felt I had spent a lot of time one, most likely because of all the re-writing! But, it's total length is under 2,500 words! Mind you, there is still some bits of story that aren't typed into the computer, and there may be some of it on an old word processor that stored files on a floppy disk (which no computer can read, unfortunately). So, it might have more words, but I don't know. It's been a source of continual frustration!
I just did a blog post tonight about some of this, and the novel I mentioned that I worked on in 2004 only has 10,500 words on it! On a good day, I could pound out 1000 words, but I usually ended up with less than that. And that was one I felt I worked pretty steadily on.
At any rate, having something novel-length complete (even if it's not a novel) at least demonstrates to me that I can do it. Which is good because I often come up with more ideas than I can squeeze into a short story.
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
A set of four e-books -- one of which came in at 120,000 words and another of which contained more than 300,000 words worth of pictures --
As for the novel you wrote in the 90s, parts of which might be on an old word processor floppy disk, do you still have the word processor? If so, perhaps you'd be able to print out the portions in question on the word processor and then either scan or (if absolutely necessary) type them into your computer. Then you'd be able to revive that early work and get it out there before the reading public.
It is very frustrating to have our work in a form that we're unable to access, and I think you owe it to yourself to figure out a way to get at it -- particularly because you've already salvaged it once only to, in effect, lose it a second time.
You certainly do seem to have demonstrated that you can write a novel-length work, Dan, and that's exciting! Maybe it's time you got one of those novels finished -- what with all those extra ideas that are swirling around in your head!
Hope my post has inspired you to consider doing that!
Thanks for stopping by to read and comment!
Jeanne
Comment by Janet Collins
Acceptable Etiquette
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
The advice in this post is exceptionally good and gives really good direction for all of us who love writing.
Thank you.
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Could hardly pass this one by when considering a quote to apply to writing. It's so appropriate!
Glad you've found my ideas helpful. Hopefully you and others will be able to use some of them to foster the continuous growth that will open exciting new doors both creatively and professionally.
Thanks for the visit!
Jeanne
Comment by Lillie Ammann
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Appreciate your stopping by!
Jeanne
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
A wonderful post. Glad to see you back in the blogosphere with the usual great advice.
~Dianna
Comment by steve
Comment by dcr writes
I'm going to start with that.
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Glad you enjoyed the post. Sorry I haven't posted much lately, but I'm definitely still around and will do my best to post a bit more often in the future!
Thanks for stopping by!
Jeanne
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Welcome to Writer's Notes! Glad you like the information presented in this post and hope it will prove useful to you in your writing endeavors.
Thanks for the visit!
Jeanne
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Glad to hear you've come across an already completed story that you haven't published yet. That's a great place to start! Perhaps working on that one will whet your appetite for getting more of your fiction out there.
Good luck!
Jeanne
Comment by Robyn McMaster
I've not written an ebook, and like you I've had the desire. But to do it, I have to make it more than a good intention and schedule time in on my weekly calendar to ensure that I follow through.
Have a Happy New Year!
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
As you can see, I've had the same problem with other writing projects and Christmas celebrations getting in the way of posting to my blog! It always does feel so good though, as you say, when I manage to find the time to craft a quality post and publish it here at WN. (Congrats to you on posting three!)
You're so right about scheduling the time to write the e-books we both would like to complete--because that's the only way we'll ever get around to writing them! If we don't schedule that time, earmarking it for that specific purpose, another project will always stand in the way!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing such good advice!
Hope your New Year is happy, as well!
Jeanne