AROUND THE WRITING

Every day I read something which is as important as writing. I find new ideas, different ways to express myself, something new I didn't know, and various other treasures. The opposite is valuable such as I find ways I do not want to express myself, work through tasks, or other activities, and often learn from my mistakes and the mistakes of other people. There is a wealth of knowledge in words that I soak up like a sponge.

Learning as much as possible about writing, writing in different genres, writing like someone I admire such a famous author can enrich and liven up my writing style and abilities, but I do not strive to write exactly like my favorite writer/author because I want to develop my own style and writing voice. There is more to this than, just writing because just writing to me is like doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

I like to broaden my knowledge base, enlarge my experiences, and bring for new and exciting word art for readers to immerse themselves into and enjoy. Research, learning from different sources is very beneficial. But, there is more to writing than writing depending on what you plan for your writing. If you decide to use the typical publishing route, then there isn't as great a need to wear different hats. If you decide to self publish, then you need to learn everything possible about editing, publishing, marketing, public relations, contracts, proofreading, and whatever I may have forgotten about or to tell you or have not discovered. The research is important because nobody knows everything. Don't take my word alone. Search and find out for yourself.

WRITING--get the ideas written, don't worry about mistakes, write and keep going until you have all your ideas saved so that you can do research if needed, check facts, think more about a character, or whatever is necessary. Only then, hopefully, after some time has passed, you should read and edit what you wrote.

READING__see the story from a reader's perspective not from that of the authors. Read as if you've never heard about the story. Readout loud which will help smooth out the reading experience as you find glitches.

EDITING--THERE ARE DIFFERENT EDITING SKILLS NECESSARY FOR PREPARING A BOOK FOR PUBLICATION. I will present this topic in a separate article.

PROOFREADING__THIS IS A SKILL for finding mostly problems with the formatting of a written project. Punctuation and simple errors are usually found and corrected, but it is ultimately the responsibility of the writer/author to look to make sure their project is as clean of issues as possible. Once it's been published it's too late. Proofreading is not editing. The editing is done before proofreading.

MARKETING/PUBLIC RELATIONS__Marketing and public relations are different but they often work together. This is a broad topic that is better addressed in another article.

CONTRACTS__Contracts very briefly are by law binding and often require the writer/author to give up certain rights. I will go into this in a later article.

Every writer/author should at least have a basic knowledge of the above topics and have the ability to discern what is best for you, the truth, and be aware of possible issues. It is a springboard toward knowledge and more power over what happens to your precious word art. I certainly wouldn't want to sign away any rights without knowing the repercussions, would you?