Bad Writing Advice

I appreciate the freedom this gives individual writers based on their situations.
More bad advice–read the genre you write. If taken too far, this keeps you from getting ideas and you remain stuck in an incest of genre.

Julianne Q Johnson

Like all professions, and especially in the arts, when you participate there is always a plethora of people and even masters of creation who have loads of advice to give the uninitiated.

Veritable loads of advice.  Some of it useful, some of it heard so often it sounds like a rule, some of it completely wrong.

There is no shortage of advice for writers.  There are well known truisms that, on closer inspection, are all wrong, or all wrong for you.  I’m here to tell you that’s ok.  You don’t have to follow specific bits of wisdom in order to be a good writer.  In fact, there’s some I recommend you ignore from time to time, or even completely.

1-   Write Everyday!  If you want to be a “real” writer, you must write every day!  How can you hone your craft if you don’t flex those writing muscles in a…

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Accessibility is everything: Victory over apathy

You want to cook a meal, but you have to thaw the meat. So you don’t.

You want to get in shape, but you have to drive to the gym. So you don’t.

You want to write a novel, but you have to find where to start. So you don’t.

You want to send a letter, but you have to get a stamp. So you don’t.

You want to email a friend, but you have to turn on the computer. So you don’t.

So many pathetic excuses!

How do you expect to get anything done when you have to set it up first? Isn’t it strange how even 1 minute of set up can keep you from doing what needs to be done?

How to know your novel is ready

 

Which option is better?

 

–Andrew lets people know he is an author. But whenever asked to show what he wrote, he claims it is a secret. He fears letting others see the story, lest they steal the ideas and make millions on his hard work. He is more suspicious than the private eye in his whodunit.

 

–Benjamin avoids telling others that he is an author, though many people realize it because he is too busy writing to have a life. Friends and even professors enjoy reading what he writes for class, but he refuses to share his novel with them, always saying it is not yet good enough.

 

–Christopher regularly brags about his writing and readily shows it to others. He blogs multiple times a week and has self published several books in the year since he began his writing career. Unfortunately, you can guess the quality of it because of so much in so little time.

 

So, this brings back the question: When should you show your book to others?

I recommend reading it four times first.

3 things I wish I knew before becoming an author

What do most people think about writers? Aside from seeing them as quirky or possibly snobbish, most non-writers think of writers as having the dream job of working for themselves at home in their pajamas, only donning normal clothes for book signings and author talks (in which hundreds of people line up to visit these celebrities).

The reality is slightly different. I learned this the hard way, and I wish I knew these three truths.