Are You Growing as a Writer?
/
The pandemic has turned everything upside down, and nothing is quite as we expected it to be. I’m trying to keep a regular routine for my writing life. Lately, I’ve also attended a lot of classes and conferences online. As a writer, you need to keep growing and learning. You need to stay relevant. Here are some things you can do to improve your craft, build your platform, and boost your name recognition.
Make sure that you are writing. If you can’t or don’t feel like writing every day, write when you can. Set small goals to help you stay on track. Celebrate your successes.
Take a class or a workshop. There are lots of free or low cost events out there on every topic. You need to hone your writing skills, but don’t limit yourself. There are online tours of interesting places and things to see. You never know what might become research for a future story.
Find a podcast that you like. There are some really good ones out there on writing and marketing. My favorites are the true crime and weird history ones.
Get a writing partner or critique group. This gives me a deadline each month for new pages. Plus, interacting and chatting with others is a good break from the craziness of the world we live in right now.
Make sure that you take the time to revise and rewrite. This is often the hardest and most time consuming part. You need to fix plot holes and character inconsistencies. You also need to look for repetitive words, fluffy content or dialogue that doesn’t move your story forward, and too many dialogue tags.
Make time to work on your social media platforms. Share, like, and comment on others’ posts. Build your following.
Decide where you want to go as a writer. Find others in that genre and look at their websites, blogs, and interviews. See what they did or didn’t do in their writing careers.
If you’re stuck on your current WIP, put it down for a little while and do something else. Sometimes, all you need is some space.
Start a new writing project.
Stay current with the publishing trends in your genre. Know what’s popular (at the moment) and see what’s selling.
If you want to improve and grow as a writer, you need to be resilient and adaptable. It’s hard work. There are a lot of disappointments and celebrations. The publishing industry is in a constant state of flux, and you need to be aware of what’s going on in the industry and the book world. Try something new today. You may be surprised.
