Every single writer knows the publishing world is grindingly competitive. Regardless of that truth, previously unknown authors break into print each year. Do not believe of acquiring published as an amalgam of mysterious formula that only an elite few have an understanding of. Treat every day as an opportunity to practice habits that will inch you toward your goal.
7 Habits of Highly Published Authors:
1) WRITE
It may well sound like a no-brainer, but there are quite a few aspiring writers out there who aren\'t writing. There are understandable reasons for this evasive block. Fear is a huge one. (You can\'t fail at something you do not attempt).
Sneak up on your fears by writing anything--even nonsense--and declare victory if you stay seated at your desk for a designated number of minutes. You can raise the bar as you go. Carving out normal writing time is the very first step in establishing a writing habit. Commit to fifteen minutes on most days of the week. Eventually, once the act of normal writing becomes habitual and pretty much reflexive, you can enhance your time.
2) READ
Can you envision a musician who goes by means of life wearing earplugs given that she doesn\'t want to listen to someone else\'s music? But there are people out there who want to be writers and who in no way crack open a book. The easy truth is that your writing won\'t improve if you don't read.
Read like a writer. Read everything in your genre (specifically newly published works). Read things outside your genre. Reread the works you love in order to learn from them--dissect the author\'s approach so that you can put it in your toolbox. When you come across some thing you dislike, attempt to figure out why--intellectualize your reaction.
three) REVISE
Revision literally means re-vision, seeing again. As significantly as it may hurt, you must be willing to cut large chunks if they do not contribute to the piece as a entire (that could incorporate scenes, chapters, even characters, beloved though they might possibly be). And you might have to write new scenes to fill gaps you couldn\'t recognize until you looked at the piece as a coherent whole instead of sewn-together parts.
Just like you can\'t cook a awesome meal if your kitchen stays clean, you can\'t write a satisfying book if your very first draft doesn\'t undergo cutting, pasting, reworking and rethinking.
four) Hand off your work: the value of a different perspective.
Islands can\'t write efficiently for publication. No matter how tough you may well attempt to be an island while you write (solitude is required then), you have to let the drawbridge down (or send a ferry over to the mainland) when you\'re ready to publish.
Never let an editor or agent be the very first person to see your work. Come across thoughtful readers willing to give you honest critiques and you\'ll dramatically increase your chances of publication.
5) Submit and Persist
When it's ready, send your work out--a different no-brainer, ideal? Still, you\'d be surprised at how numerous writers -- severe writers who want to be published extra than practically anything -- write and write and by no means send their pieces in for consideration. Who can blame them? You pour your entire creative self into this artistic endeavor you know the odds are stacked in favor of rejection, so why would you volunteer for the guillotine?
Instead of thinking of rejection as a personal blow, attempt to believe of it as a numbers game: each and every time you get rejected and re-submit, your odds of obtaining a \"Yes\" in return increase. Rejection stinks, it really does. And it stings. But since there\'s no way around it on the road to publication, the sooner you accept it as a needed evil, the better. And the truth is, acquiring rejections means you\'re in the game. It's a concrete sign that your writing life has progressed from a solitary activity at your desk to an exchange with the world at huge.
6) Ask \"What if?\"
Look at the world and question everything. Peer past the obvious. Peel back the veneer of appearances and ask your self, What if....? It\'s a valuable way of imagining and visualizing, and asking it sometimes will improve and enrich your creative life.
The late author Robert Cormier said that his novel The Chocolate War was born 1 ordinary day even though he watched his son walk out of school and toward the automobile carrying a substantial box of fundraiser chocolates. Cormier asked himself, \"What if my son decided not to sell the chocolate this year?\" and the idea was hatched for a vibrant, compelling, enduring novel.
7) Start something new.
Okay, so you finished a project and put it in the mail. Then you weathered your first rejection and put the work in the mail once more. And you wait. And wait. Warning: if you're waiting for the Yea or Nay to define your identity as a writer, you\'ll stall the prospective on future work.
Though you\'re generating the rounds with your initial piece, throw your self into a new project. There\'s absolutely nothing additional effective for breaking you out of over-attachment to any single piece of your writing than excitement over a fresh endeavor.
