The Keys to Writing Success - Part 3

This week an essential key.

To write and to realise your potential, you need to be persistent. Unfortunately many feel that writing is just a case of sitting down and putting pen to paper. But to get published and to get your writing taken seriously, you need to allow time to learn the craft, to perfect your prose and to find out what works.

In my early days of writing I had countless rejections, but I just kept believing that one day I would get something accepted. And if you are in the early stages of your writing career, the same could be true for you. You can get published but you do need to allow time and persist

And here are some thoughts on this very subject

Be persistent.. Editors change; editorial tastes change; markets change. Too many beginning writers give up too easily.
John Jakes.


Never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
Harriet Beecher Stow.

And finally,

If you've got the guts to stick it out ... you're going to make it.
Brian Hays.


Good luck, and remember persistence pays.

The Keys to Writing Success - Part 2

The title is the first thing an editor or reader sees and it has to capture attention.

Whenever possible make sure your title intrigues or, if an article or nonfiction, sets out possible benefits (eg the ever-effective How to … or 7 Ways to …) So important is a good title, I have written about it at great length in Achieve More Acceptances.

In the meantime, here are the thoughts of some well-known authors on titles:

The Ancient Mariner would not have taken so well if it had been called The Old Sailor.
Samuel Butler.

I make a list of titles after I’ve finished the story or the book – sometimes as many as a hundred. Then I start eliminating them, sometimes all of them.
Ernest Hemingway.

A good title is the title of a successful book.
Raymond Chandler

With every piece of writing you do, it really will reward you well to give careful thought to the title. A good title will help sell your work.

The Keys to Writing Success - Part 1

'I often quote myself. It adds spice to the conversation'
George Bernard Shaw.


And quotes can certainly add some spice, whether to something you have written or in helping to illustrate a point you want to make in a discussion or speech.

And in the next few blogs I will be passing on some quotes from writers which I think contain some valuable sentiments.

The first is from William Styron, 'There's only one person a writer should pay any attention to. It's not any damn critic. It's the reader.'

While from Quentin Crisp, 'I want to write the words people want to print.'

And Judith Krantz, 'I'm writing to have fun and for my readers to have fun. I do the best work I can do.'

All these three quotes have the same message - you need to write with the reader (and audience) in mind. Once you do that, your writing will be far more effective - and often more successful too.

**

In my special report, Achieve More Acceptances I mention The Golden Opportunity and which I have found a very effective way of getting material (and in some cases, some series) published. A few weeks ago I took The Golden Opportunity a stage further, approaching a web publisher. They responded within minutes expressing interest and accepting my work. For more details about The Golden Opportunity, take a look at Achieve More Acceptances and Be Published More Often and you could find it opens up some interesting markets for your own work, both for print or the web.


Good Luck.

Chinese Horoscopes

This week sees the publication of my new book, Your Chinese Horoscope 2008. Although in this blog I mainly write about writing matters, if Chinese horoscopes are of interest you can find more details about my book by clicking on the Amazon link below. For American readers the book will be available through Barnes and Noble a little later in the year.




One of the fascinating aspects of Chinese horoscpes concerns the personalities of the 12 animal signs and, just as I have seen writing teachers suggest that writers base characters on their knowledge of Western signs (eg determined Taureans, secretive Scorpions etc), the same can be applied to animal signs. Indeed whenever I meet someone I am always interested to find out their Chinese sign and so have a better appreciation of their nature, including strengths and possible weaknesses. This, together with the helpfulness of indicated trends, are just part of this fascinating and ancient discipline.

In my next blog I will share some of my favourite writing quotations and some more information about Achieve More Acceptances and Be Published More Often .