Skip to main content

Guest Post: 7 Tips for Improving Your Writing

Every good writer will always want to improve upon his or her work. Any good writer doesn't simply write for a living or want to write for a living; they want to write and love to write. What's better than loving what you do for a living! However, how can you get better? There are many methods that you can use and tips you can follow that can give you the edge when it comes to completing each and every piece of work.

1. Reread your existing work. The first step is to reread your own work. You may spot errors or areas that can be improved. This is unlikely if a deeper issue lurks underneath the surface, but surface errors are easy to spot.

2. Learn to critique your work. Critiquing your work is a good step to take if you want to improve because you can go through every piece that you have ever written and list areas of improvement for yourself rather than getting others involved.

3. Read articles that give you information on how to improve. There are many of them out there. All give different hints and tips so you just have to decide what works for you.

4. Experiment with your style. A change in style can improve your writing infinitely if it could be more passionate or exciting. One of the biggest problems writers face is getting people interested in their work and a change of style may just give you that ability and the edge.

5. Get someone else to read through your work. A fresh pair of eyes can pick up issues or areas for improvement that you have missed. The more people that will read it the better.

6. Always have an aim in mind. What do you want from your writing? If you have an aim or goal in mind then you have something to work towards and it will make it easier for you to improve.

7. Persevere. So many budding writers give up when the going gets tough, but the ability to push through the tough times will stand you in good stead should any problems crop up in the future. The determined do far better in the writing industry than those who give up easily.

Copyright © Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ


Download an excerpt of The Authentic Self: Journaling Your Joys, Griefs and Everything in Between below:
authenticself-sampler.zip OR authenticself-sampler.pdf
If you want 3 writing *sparks* delivered to you every day for 31 days, check out WriteSparks!™ Daily HERE for info on how to get started -- it's free :o) Thank you for reading. Keep writing!
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Guest Post: Tips on Writing Your Memoirs

Whether you have lived a rough life or had a silver spoon in your mouth, it is normal to want to write your memoirs. This is especially true if you are getting up into middle age or beyond. Otherwise, it could be a pretty short story. Assuming you are ready to put 40 years or more down on paper, here are some tips for maximizing the effect of your finished work. First of all, give yourself plenty of time for a project like this. You are going to remember things as you work through the memories that are freshest in your mind. For this reason, it makes sense to give yourself lots of time, even as much as a year or more. Hopefully, you have a supply of old photographs you will be going through at the same time. But even if you don't, you can dig out those memories that are buried within. A good place to start is with a general time line of your life. You may find that you need to make more than one draft of this line, because you are likely to remember important ...
Read more

Guest Post by Author Mary Cunningham

  Cynthia's Attic - Inspiring Young Readers and Writers Writers love to write. It's a passion. But, I discovered another benefit writing for children that I didn’t anticipate. Who knew how much fun I’d have visiting schools and interacting with my target audience? I’ve created several slide presentations that are informative and fun, but the question/answer session is most entertaining. For instance, I'm amazed at the number of elementary and middle-school students who not only love to read, but want to know what it takes to become a published author.  Questions like, “How did you find your publisher?” or, “Who edits your books?” One of the most asked questions is, “Who did your cover?” I love sharing information about one of the best graphic artists in the business, Nathalie Moore. Although the artist and the publisher have the final say, my ideas are always considered.  Naturally, the inevitable questions come up; “How much money do you make?” (Don’t quit your day jo...
Read more

Interview Friday with J.D. Holiday

J.D. Holiday is the author and illustrator of two children’s books: Janoose the Goose, picture book and a chapter book for six to eight year olds, THE GREAT SNOWBALL ESCAPADE. A chapbook of her short stories called, Trespasses was published in 1994 and she has had short stories printed in literary magazines and numerous articles about writing and publishing published.  She is a member of both The Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators, (SCBWI) and Small Publishers of North America, (SPAN.)  J.D. Holiday lives in the Delaware Valley of Pennsylvania. VS : I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today. It is so exciting because you are my first World of Ink Tour Guest. It’s been a fun couple of days and the tour is only getting started. Okay, so I know your children are grown and out of the house, but I’m sure you’ve had to balance your writing life around them at one time or another. I know being a parent and writer can be hard and I find ...
Read more