Writing Advice - One Thing Leads to Another

As you may have read, in my post yesterday, Sunday, January 31st, I did a search for the term, Chain Blog. I clicked on a few links and one I can upon was a blogger who posed the question for a chain blog – he wanted his visitors to leave comments with their advice or opinions. The question was (not word for word as my memory has been on vacation with my energy for quite some time now):

If you had one sentence, say 20 seconds is you were speaking, what would you advise new writers. Her advice was to read many books in the genre you write and join a critique group.

This is great advice!

I’m sorry to say, in my haste, I didn’t note the url of the site, but I did leave a comment.

My one sentence, 20 second or under advice to new writers is:

Read books in your genre, learn your craft, join a critique group with new and experienced writers, make time to actually write, and persevere.

While there is a great deal of additional advice one could pass along, if just one of the elements I listed above is missing, you would be hindering your chances of reaching your goal of publication.

Okay, I can hear those whispers: But is a critique group that important? The answer is simple…YUP! Not only does a critique group help you with your manuscripts, you actually learn from the critiques you receive and give. So, aside from the many other advantages of a critique group, it is a useful tool to be used to help hone your craft.

I took this a step further and actually timed myself. Within 15 seconds I could not only state the above, I could add: and remember writing is a business like any other and needs to viewed as such.

Hee, hee…this is why everything takes me longer than it should…FOCUS!

This brings me back to the title of the post, One Thing Often leads to Another With Writing. I started out seeking information about Chain Blogs, and wound up writing a post about one sentence advice to writers.

Isn’t the writing world amazing?

If you’d like more information about the advantages of critique groups, check out:

Critiques are Essential

Okay, to follow through with the Chain Blog, please visit this site tomorrow, Tuesday, February 2nd:
http://www.griercooper.com/category/blog/

You can check out the list of participating Chain Blog bloggers and updates at:
The National Writing for Children Center (NWCC): http://writingforchildrencenter.com
Oh, and be sure to stop back here tomorrow, Tuesday, February 5th, because I have a great article from Margaret Fieland, Poetic Forms: The Cento.

Until next time,

Karen Cioffi

Links to my books:
Day’s End Lullaby
Writing, Publishing, and Marketing – You Can Do It!
The Self-Publisher’s Guide