45 Tips for Emerging Writers

by write a better life

This list of 45 practical tips is from the opening session of the Emerging Writers Festival that was recently held in Melbourne. A panel of five emerging writers shared their advice, and the things they wished they had been told at the start of their careers.

I found them insightful, hopefully you will too.

45 Tips for Emerging Writers

1. The quality of the writing is the only thing that matters
2. Everything you write or think has already been written and thought and that’s okay
3. Ego is the driving engine and your worst enemy
4. People read the book they want to write
5. People write the book they want to read
6. The adverb is not your friend
7. Speed is the enemy of a serious writer
8. Writing will heal you
9. Less is more
10. Words can make a difference
11. Your heartbreak and torment are the things that will connect you to others
12. Write with your body as well as your brain
13. Living is more important than writing
14. Limit social media notifications
15. Know who you are before you write and take responsibility for it
16. Honour your heroes
17. Writing relieves discomfort
18. Risk and sacrifice – give up everything
19. Get out of the way
20. When it comes get it because it comes and goes
21. Listen- writing that listens intensifies the experience for the reader
22. Don’t stop, if you give up, the burn will gnaw at you
23. Writing is a vocation, a calling and an honour
24. Don’t care about getting published
25. The reason you write is to question your existence
26. Writing can comfort you
27. Think only of the writing- what are you writing for?
28. Feed the burn- the creative burn to write and investigate
29. Don’t underestimate the freedom of not being published
30. Write only what you want to write
31. Writing is the pursuit of self, but you learn through writing and your connection to the world
32. Be humble, have faith, have a true connection
33. Be fit, take care of yourself physically
34. Don’t underestimate your own paranoia
35. Put it all aside and write
36. Don’t give it away until you are ready for it
37. Don’t let them take it from you until you are ready
38. Don’t send it out into the world until it is the best it can be
39. Dig deep- apply that rule to great writing
40. Look at every sentence and ask yourself is this sentence an original contribution to knowledge
41. Writing is hard, and it is a skill
42. Sit down and do the work
43. Push through your comfort zone, writing is not easy
44. Start to write when you can’t stop thinking about it
45. It needs to be important- if you don’t care about it, others won’t care about it either