There's No Magic Formula for Becoming a Better Writer

If you're trying to become a better writer, you should know that there is not quick-fix or magic formula that will suddenly transform you into a good writer in three simple steps. Becoming a better writer is obviously a long-term undertaking, but many writers consider that they have a gift that simply has to be unlocked by the same magic key that published, top writers possess.

The simple truth about improving your writing is that you have to practice your craft continually and consistently. Experiment with your writing, do some planning, revision, then revisit what you have been doing. Challenge yourself by establishing deadlines and competitions. Push yourself, find out about your limits and your writing will soon reward you. Try writing something that another writer inspired you, then write a few lines completely your own.

However, you won't improve your writing style by writing in a vacuum. You must also make efforts to improve by reading the works of other writers, be it fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Get acquainted with all writing styles: argumentative or persuasive, informative or biographical, fantastic or scientific. Go through the works of talented, consecrated professionals, and also read those writers who are still finding their style.

Your readings should help you gain confidence and inspiration. They should also sustain you in building your vocabulary and help you learn more writing tricks and techniques. This way you will learn more about the patterns and rhythm of language. Try to understand what makes you different from the other authors you are reading, because by doing this you will soon be able to understand what is your own unique voice.

Becoming a better writer is not a task you can accomplish in a weekend or in a few months. Learning to be a better writer by constant improvement is a life's work. Genuine writers never see their work done. They don't accept their condition and sit back, no matter how good they are. It's true... it will not take you a lifetime to gain professional status, but this shouldn't be your only goal. If you will think in these terms, you will only prevent yourself from becoming the great writer you can be.

For instance, perhaps your writing was not the reason your writing project was rejected. Instead, it could have happened because of the chosen topic, the needs of the publisher, or simply the mood of the editor when she looked over your submission. It's a fact that you cannot control the moment when you reach professional status, but you can influence your progress toward constantly improving your writing. And one is not far from the other, as the more valuable your writing gets, the easier it will be for you to become a better (and published) writer.

Copyright © Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

About Shery: Shery is the creator of WriteSparks!™- a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks!™ Lite for free at http://writesparks.com

Journals can help writers like you

A journal can help you organize your writing activities and at the same time hold you accountable for what you are doing daily. By keeping a journal, you can keep track of your progress.

If it is easy for you to get lost amidst every day tasks, keeping a journal will sustain your efforts to add more discipline to your routine and produce a regular form of writing. When it comes to finding the time to write or just sitting down and writing, many writers become complacent. To be successful in your chosen career, dedication, consistency and persistence are essential traits. A writing journal will certainly help you identify which are the missing elements in your daily routine.

Keeping a journal is by no means a difficult thing to do, nor is it complicated or expensive. If you are a novice writer, keep your writing journal simple to begin with. Get a monthly calendar with plenty of blank spaces so that you can write on it each day. This is an inexpensive method to keep a journal regardless your form of writing, or to make notations concerning your submissions. All you need to do is jot down brief descriptions of your daily writing activities, such as "write 500 words for the novel" or "emailed 2 articles to the Classical Literary Magazine."

Place your writing journal in a visible location so that you can check your daily progress at any time and honestly assess your efforts to get better at your craft. You can review your journal every week or at the end of a month to evaluate your productivity. If there are any blank days, try to understand what kept you from writing something on those days. Your blanks may bother you at first, but they will also serve as a great motivation, and you will soon learn to eliminate them through sustained work.

After making some progress with your writing journal, you will realize that tenacity was what distinguished you from other writers with more published credits. Even if it may seem like a waste of time, having a journal is in fact a way of perfecting your craft. Unless you are disciplined and dedicated, making a profession and a living out of writing is probably not for you. So if you need something to help you maintain a positive attitude, try a writing journal.

Copyright © Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

About Shery: Shery is the creator of WriteSparks!™- a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks!™ Lite for free at http://writesparks.com

WOI Guest Post: 12 Nuggets of Writing Wisdom

1. Work hard to become competent.

Neil Gaiman said, "There's no magic formula. To become a competent writer, you write until you start to sound like you, and then you keep on writing. Finish things you start. Get better."

2. View life from different perspectives.

Douglas Clegg said, "Get out and live and travel and see the world from perspectives other than the one with which you've been saddled. Youth doesn't last very long, and it might be better to participate in life awhile before writing from it."

3. Write one page at a time.

John Steinbeck said, "When I face the desolate impossibility of writing 500 pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me and I know I can never do it. This happens every time. Then gradually I write one page and then another. One day's work is all I can permit myself to contemplate and I eliminate the possibility of ever finishing."

4. Strive for vigorous writing.

William Strunk, Jr. said, "Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts."

5. Be vigilant and ever ready.

Earl Nightingale said, "Ideas are elusive, slippery things. Best to keep a pad of paper and a pencil at your bedside, so you can stab them during the night before they get away."

6. Develop your own writing voice.

Michael Chabon said, "A voice, not merely recognizable, but original, unique, engaging and above all derived from, reflecting, and advancing the meaning of the story itself, is necessary to good and worthwhile literature."

7. Write with confidence.

William Zinsser said, "Don't say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be tired. Be confused. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident."

8. Develop a writing habit.

Richard North Patterson said, "Cultivate steady work habits: a schedule that contemplates either regular work hours every week or a certain number of pages. Artistic inspiration is one of the most overrated premises for a writing schedule; a writer should try to get pages done on a regular basis, then work to improve them. If one waits for inspiration, rather than treating writing like a serious task, it becomes much harder to ever finish a book."

9. Write right now.

Jack London said, "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

10. Venture out and attempt to be read and published.

John Campbell said, "The reason 99% of all stories written are not bought by editors is very simple. Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the closet shelf at home."

11. Rejection is part of the writing life.

Meg Cabot said, "You are not a hundred dollar bill. Not everyone is going to like you or your story. Do not take rejection personally."

12. Write with passion.

Ann Patchett said, "The end result for a writer may be finding a publisher, but publishing is not anywhere near the beginning or the middle of this process. So when we advise young people about writing, it would be best if we could move students away from that kind of thinking and say, 'Write because you're passionate about it. Think of yourself as a glass blower. You don't blow your first glass and take it to Tiffany's. You blow your first glass, and you smash it. You blow it again, and you smash it.'"



Copyright (c) 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

WOI Guest Post: 5 Tips for Achieving Your Writing Goals

1. Make your goals achievable.

By achievable, we mean realistic and attainable. You might unconsciously have set a goal even others will have a hard time achieving, even if they had the means and the time to do so.

Here's what you can do: break down your goals into small, realistic goals set against reasonable time frames. Oftentimes, you'll achieve your bigger goals if you work on achieving the smaller goals leading to those. The important thing is that your make your goals as realistic and as achievable as you can.


2. Believe in your abilities.

Success hugely depends on one and only one person -- you. So, do you believe enough in yourself and in what you can do to achieve your goals? Self-doubt is your biggest adversity and the biggest obstacle on your way to success. Is it possible you lost focus of your goals because you have unconsciously set aside having to deal with your self-doubts?


3. Devise a feasible plan.

You know what you want, but do you know how to get what you want? Do you need technical or artistic training to achieve your goals? Or perhaps further studies? Do you have a set plan of action that will lead to the achievement of your goals? What things, both tangible and intangible, do you need to aid you in reaching your goals?

Take a moment to sit down and list the things you need and make your plan of action. This is a good time to break them down into small, realistic goals and then tackle them one day at a time!


4. Resist spreading yourself too thinly.

Sometimes, it's better to work on one goal at a time, rather than doing and shooting for so many all at the same time. Work on so many goals at one given time and you'll find out you're nowhere near achieving even one goal. You won't be able to focus your full energy on one goal.

Prioritize your goals and start with either your top priority or your most realistic goal. You'll discover you're able to do more and achieve more using this approach.


5. Don't be easily disheartened.

Along with believing in your ability to achieve your goals, this is the second most important thing you need to do. Yes, you do the steps necessary to achieve your goals, but after one or two failures, do you give up and stop trying?

Persistence and patience are the keys to achieving your goals and eventually success. Always remember that it's very rare for people to achieve total success or attain their goals on the first try. If they did, there'll be no need to build self-confidence, patience and persistence.

Now that you've read these five tips, start your way to attaining your writing goals today!


Copyright (c) 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

WOI Guest Post: The Successful Writer

I don't believe in luck. I don't subscribe to the idea that successful people get to where they are because they happened to be "at the right place at the right time." They're successful because they stick their necks out and give more than what others wanting the same thing they do are willing to give. They find ways to achieve what they want, accomplish what they want to accomplish. When there aren't opportunities, they create the opportunities. When they fail for the thousandth time, they can't wait to try again.

Now apply all the above to writers. Talent is nothing if you don't have the guts to do what you need to do to accomplish your goals. If your goal is to be published, then you have to do what it takes to get published, and that involves a lot of hard work -- from honing your craft, reading, studying the markets, submitting your work, accepting the rejections and submitting again.

In my view, a persistent writer is better than a talented writer who does nothing. The persistent writer is the one who gets published. She's the one who eventually becomes "big" or well known in her chosen writing genre.

Successful writers like Stephen King, JK Rowling and Erich Segal didn't get to where they are through luck. I'm willing to bet they spent thousands of hours honing their craft. They aren't untouchables; they didn't breeze through the top with nary a rejection hiding somewhere in their drawers. They did the things aspiring and beginning writers should do if they want to realize their goals -- the successful writers picked up their pens, wrote, submitted their works, treated rejections as a part of the writing life, wrote again, submitted again, got rejections again, wrote some more, submitted some more, and so on.

Instead of idolizing successful writers, an aspiring or beginning writer is better off emulating them. I think it's dangerous for an aspiring writer to idolize a successful writer. Why? She's putting the successful writer on a god-like status, unconsciously lowering herself in the process. Emulation, on the other hand, is different; it's positive, constructive. By emulating the successful writer, the aspiring writer sets a goal for herself -- that is, to be the successful writer's equal, or to attain the level of the success the successful writer has achieved. In this regard, the aspiring writer gives herself a goal -- a purpose -- to want to become the best she can be as a writer.

Commitment, too, is a big part of the writing life, and writers become successful when they are committed to their craft. Commitment is regularly showing up to write; it's never missing a date with your notebook, typewriter or computer; it's sifting through feedback (or critiques) and making intelligent decisions regarding your work; it's developing the thick skin for rejections; it's keeping an open mind and reading not only what you like; and above all, it's keeping the passion for writing burning, and feeding it...even if it's only for as short as five minutes a day.

So...are you ready to become a successful writer?


Copyright (c) 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

Shery created WriteSparks! - a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks! Lite for free - http://writesparks.com

WOI Guest Post: The Forces of Nature in Your Stories

Nature plays a big role in stories. Nature can make a character more authentic because it can influence his/her action or behavior.

If you ever find yourself stuck on to how to describe one of your characters, add a force of nature in your character description. Describe how your character behaves or reacts during a bad (or good) weather.

Take for example a few movies where forces of nature were vital. Imagine how the characters and the plots would change if the following forces of nature were taken away:

~ the tornado in the Wizard of Oz
~ the lightning in Phenomenon (John Travolta)
~ the volcanic eruption in Dante's Peak (Pierce Brosnan)
~ the icebergs in the Atlantic in Titanic (Leonardo diCaprio)
~ the avalanche in Vertical Limit (Chris O'Donnell)

Try to substitute another force of nature in the examples above and see how it affects the story and the characters.

Try it yourself on the following:

1. Deanna Ball possesses a strong sense of duty. She's stuck in a traffic jam. Force of nature: Earthquake

2. Randall Graves is people-oriented and works well with others. He's in a bar watching afternoon football with friends. Force of nature: Snowstorm

3. Dessa Woods has an intimidating personality. She's on vacation with a couple of friends. Force of nature: Avalanche

4. Geoff Earhart is organized and methodical in his approach to everything. He's been ordered to recover a vital piece of equipment from a capsized ship. Force of nature: Lightning storm

5. Mac Taylor is the persistent type. He's been trailing a woman who looked like his best friend's dead wife. Force of nature: Torrential rain



Copyright 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

Think, Believe and Then Attack Your Writing Relentlessly

Writing isn't easy. Writers whose words flow effortlessly have taken the time to hone their craft. It's never an overnight thing. You need to be dedicated and be relentless in pursuing writing.

With that in mind, here's a simple strategy you can try. (And there's a batch of *sparks* for you at the end too!)

--->>> Think of writing like karate...it's about *Discipline.*

Writing, like other forms of art, work or talent, requires discipline. It won't ever be enough that you say to yourself that you are a writer. Only when you write and write with discipline can you call yourself one. Before you can earn a black belt in karate, you have to dedicate yourself, practice and instill discipline in yourself to learn the moves and techniques.

The same goes for writing. Don't just read books. Devour them. Ray Bradbury, author of Zen in the Art of Writing, suggests books of essays, poetry, short stories, novels and even comic strips. Not only does he suggest that you read authors who write the way you hope to write, but "also read those who do not think as you think or write as you want to write, and so be stimulated in directions you might not take for many years." He continues, "don't let the snobbery of others prevent you from reading Kipling, say, while no one else is reading him."

Learn to differentiate between good writing and bad writing. Make time to write. Write even though you're in a bad mood. Put yourself in a routine. Integrate writing into your life. The goal is not to make writing dominate your life, but to make it fit in your life. Julia Cameron, in her book The Right to Write, sums it best: "Rather than being a private affair cordoned off from life as the rest of the world lives it, writing might profitably be seen as an activity best embedded in life, not divorced from it."


--->>> Believe that *Everyone has a Story* -- including you.

Extraordinary things happen to ordinary people. As a writer, your job is to capture as many of these things and write them down, weave stories, and create characters that jump out of the pages of your notebook. Don't let anything escape your writer's eye, not even the way the old man tries to subtly pick his nose or the way an old lady fluffs her hair in a diner. What you can't use today, you can use tomorrow. Store these in your memory or jot them down in your notebook.

Jump in the middle of the fray. Be in the circle, not outside it. Don't be content being a mere spectator. Take a bite of everything life dishes out. Ray Bradbury wrote, "Tom Wolfe ate the world and vomited lava. Dickens dined at a different table every hour of his life. Moliere, tasting society, turned to pick up his scalpel, as did Pope and Shaw. Everywhere you look in the literary cosmos, the great ones are busy loving and hating. Have you given up this primary business as obsolete in your own writing? What fun you are missing, then. The fun of anger and disillusion, the fun of loving and being loved, of moving and being moved by this masked ball which dances us from cradle to churchyard. Life is short, misery sure, mortality certain. But on the way, in your work, why not carry those two inflated pig-bladders labeled Zest and Gusto."


--->>> Attack writing with *Passion.*

The kind of writing you produce will oftentimes reflect the current state of your emotions. Be indifferent and your writing will be indifferent. Be cheerful and watch the words dance across your page.

Whenever you sit down to write, put your heart and soul in it. Write with passion. Write as if you won't live tomorrow. In her book, Writing the Wave, Elizabeth Ayres wrote: "There's one thing your writing must have to be any good at all. It must have you. Your soul, your self, your heart, your guts, your voice -- you must be on that page. In the end, you can't make the magic happen for your reader. You can only allow the miracle of 'being one with' to take place. So dare to be you. Dare to reveal yourself. Be honest, be open, be true...If you are, everything else will fall into place."


And here are 7 *sparks* to jumpstart your writing this week:

1. It was Erica Jong who said, "If you don't risk anything, you risk more." Write about what this means to you.

2. You come home and check your phone messages. You get your third message and freeze. Begin from there.

3. It was Herman Melville who said, "We become sad in the first place because we have nothing stirring to do." Write about what stirs you.

4. This dialogue must appear somewhere in your story: "You know what else her husband doesn't know?"

5. Use any or all of the following in a short narrative or poem: "as dense as a London fog," "a slate of solace," "like oil and water," "wound the clock," and "receding as you please."

6. Christina Cruz and Scott Peters meet after a failed experiment. One of them is seeking revenge. Write their story based on this quick plot: "patient turns murderous after a near-death experience."

7. Recall and write about a time you did something wholeheartedly.



Copyright 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

Shery is the creator of WriteSparks! - a software that generates
over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download
WriteSparks! Lite for fr*e - http://writesparks.com

Is Indecision Hindering You From Achieving Your Writing Goals?

Indecision oftentimes hinders us from achieving goals we have set for ourselves. Indecision can cause regrets. How many times have you said to yourself, "If only I..." or "I wish I had..." or "If I only did it another way, then..."

Where there is indecision, there is no resolution. Instead of being convicted to a decision, a stand or a principle, indecision causes us to 'swing' from one side to the other; to take one step forward only to take two steps back.

Indecision breeds reluctance. And where there is reluctance, there is a certain fear -- fear of trying, fear of doing, fear of failing and yes, even fear of succeeding.

This week, you will come face to face with your indecision.

Freewrite for ten to fifteen minutes. Based on your freewrite, go on and craft an essay, story or poem.

~ Monday: Think of something you wanted to do last week but did not do.

    What was it?
    Why did you not act on it?
    What hindered you from doing it?
    How do you feel about not being able to do what you wanted?


~ Tuesday: Now think of something you wanted to do last week and you went ahead and did it.

    What was it?
    Why did you act on it?
    How did you feel after doing it?


~ Wednesday and Thursday: Freewrite using any or all of these prompts:

    1. I remember ten years ago when I ___________, and if I can do it all over again, I would...
    2. One of the things I regret not doing is...
    3. One of the best decisions I've made is...


~ Friday: Brainstorm and list at least five situations you hope you never have to find yourself in. Then, write the courses of action you would take if you do find yourself in those situations.



This article is excerpted from Shery's book, Weekly Writes: 52 Weeks of Writing Bliss! (http://weeklywrites.com). Shery created WriteSparks! - a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks! Lite for fr*e - http://writesparks.com

How Well Do You Know Yourself?‏

Getting to Know Yourself: Journaling to Self Discovery

Was it Plato? Was it Socrates? Whoever the old Greek was who first said "know thyself," he was onto something. Self knowledge is absolutely essential for self improvement and development. How can you know if you are improving if you don't know where you are? One of the best ways to discover who and where you really are in life is to keep a journal.

There is a catch to journaling your way to self discovery, however. That catch is honesty. Yet even as development of the self is a journey, so is becoming more and more honest with yourself. It can be difficult to be honest with ourselves. In fact, it is probably one of the most difficult tasks we ever face, because it is so easy to lie to ourselves.

Journaling to self discovery can involve several areas. First of all, there is the honest (there's that word again!) assessment of your skills, talents, gifts, and interests. The unique package that makes up you includes all these things. Psychologists have suggested that many people tend to evaluate their own abilities above what is really the truth. Surely there are just as many who sell themselves short.

Especially if you are considering a career choice or have a desire to start a business, it can be invaluable to put these special talents down on paper. Look for places where a special course might fill in a hole in your education. See if you have some strikes against you. Is there some way to overcome them?

When journaling to self discovery, don't forget about your values and how well you are living up to them. What do you really think is important in life? While good self esteem is a critical part of mental health, often the quickest way to joy and peace is giving of yourself in service to others. Are you loyal to your friends? Are you compassionate when someone else is hurting? Journal about your attitude toward others. You don't have to beat yourself up for being less than perfect, but there is nothing wrong with challenging yourself in the area of kindness and thoughtfulness.

You can also discover a lot about yourself in the area of health when you keep a journal. It is very easy to kid yourself about just how well you are taking care of yourself. Many times we think we are exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet, yet when we really keep track honestly, we find out we've been lying to ourselves. It's possible to go a couple of weeks without exercise or cheat on the diet six days in a row and not even be aware of it.

Self discovery can lead to self development, which means you might just see your dreams fulfilled. One aspect of pursuing dreams is your attitude toward what you long to see happen. Do you believe it can happen? Do you believe it is OK for it to happen? That is, assuming the dream is in itself a positive thing, do you realize it's OK for it to happen to you? Write about your attitudes honestly. Do they need to change? How can you make that happen?

A journal is a great place to write down statements of affirmation about your dreams and aspirations. Bible verses and great quotes can make a big difference in how motivated you stay as you pursue your goals. Write your own great quotes, too. Take time to meditate on those motivating statements. Spend time every day (or at least every week) journaling your way to self discovery.

Copyright © Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

About Shery: Shery is the creator of WriteSparks!™- a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks!™ Lite for free at http://writesparks.com. She is also the author of 2 books. Visit her official site at http://sheryruss.com

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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!