12 Dos and Don’ts for Writers Starting Out
Do get the first draft down on paper. Do not worry about spelling, grammar, editing, proofreading, etc. Just get the story down. You may well have to cut most of it, but having something to work with is less daunting than a blank sheet of paper.
Do ignore the self-doubt, the voice in your head telling you it’s not good enough and that no-one will want to read it.
Do aim to write a little each day. Some days the words will flow and on other days writing will feel like childbirth, like pushing a reluctant infant out into a scary and hostile world. Remember, it all adds up and even 50 words are better than none at all.
Don’t despair if you are stuck. Do something else. Go for a walk, read other authors. Find out what works for you, what will get those creative juices flowing again—for me, it is spending time with kids (I work with children) and washing the dishes.
Do join a writers’ group if there is one in your area/if you find one online. A writer’s confidence is a fragile thing that needs to be nurtured and writing groups do just that. Plus you make like-minded friends who cheer your triumphs and bolster you when you want to give up.
Do leave your manuscript for a bit once you are done with it. Work on something else. Read someone else. When working on your draft, you tend to get too close to your story, so a bit of distance helps immensely and when you come back to it with fresh eyes, all those glaring things you missed before are instantly visible.
Don’t send out your manuscript before it is the best it can be. Believe me, I did, and it sets you up for a lot of heartache and disappointment. I was rejected multiple times not because of my writing but because of my impatience, even though I did not know this at the time. Research your market and send your books to agents and publishers who are looking for new manuscripts in that market.
Do try and get a professional edit, if at all possible.
Don’t let rejection get you down. Easier said than done, I know. But try and remember that even the best authors get rejected. Much of the time, agents/publishers reject because of a multitude of reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of your writing. Their lists being full, for example. The recession perhaps.
Don’t let the doomsayers get to you—it doesn’t matter if the book is dying/the readers are dwindling—if you have a good story, it will be published.
Do not lose faith in yourself or your writing. If you do not believe in yourself, no one else will. We all have bad days, days when the writing is rubbish, days when we cannot write. But we all write because we want to, because despite everything that goes wrong, the one time something goes right, the one time we create the perfect sentence, there is no feeling in the world quite like it.
And so,
Don’t give up. A published author is one who has just got up after each rejection, dusted himself off and tried again. Remember you only need one person to say yes and she is waiting just around the corner. Don’t give up.
Check out Renita D’Silva’s The Spice Maker’s Secret here:
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