The 22 Best Writing Tips Ever

Brian Clark over at Copyblogger has issued a challenge to bloggers in his post “The Cosmo Headline Technique for Blogging Inspiration.”

The idea is to use headlines from magazines like Cosmopolitan for inspiration, and to write your headlines before composing your article.

I’ve taken Brian up on his challenge and as a result, I bring you the 22 best writing tips ever.

Best Writing Tips

These writing tips cover the basics and the most important aspects of writing.

1. Do it. Write.
2. Read as much and as often as you can. Remember, every writer is a reader first.
3. Keep a journal or notebook handy at all times so you can jot down all of your brilliant ideas.
4. Make sure you have a dictionary and thesaurus available whenever you are writing.
5. Be observant. The people and activities that surround you will provide you with great inspiration for characters, plots, and themes.
6. Invest in a few valuable resources starting with The Chicago Manual of Style, and The Elements of Style.
7. Grammar: learn the rules and then learn how to break them effectively.
8. Stop procrastinating. Turn off the TV, tune out the rest of the world, sit down, and write.
9. Read works by highly successful authors to learn what pleases publishers and earns a pretty penny.
10. Read works by the canonical authors so you can understand what constitutes a respectable literary achievement.
11. Join a writers’ group so you can gain support from the writing community and enjoy comradery in your craft.
12. Create a space in your home especially for writing.
13. Proofread everything at least three times before submitting your work for publication.
14. Write every single day.
15. Start a blog. Use it to talk about your own writing process, to share your ideas and experiences, or to publish your work to a reading audience.
16. Subscribe to the top writing blogs on the Internet. Read them, participate, and enjoy!
17. Use writing exercises to improve your skills, increase your talent, and explore different genres, styles, and techniques.
18. Let go of your inner editor. When you sit down to write a draft, refrain from proofreading until that draft is complete.
19. Allow yourself to write poorly, to write a weak, uninteresting story or a boring, grammatically incorrect poem. You’ll never succeed if you don’t allow yourself a few failures along the way.
20. Make it your business to understand grammar and language. Do you know a noun from a verb, a predicate from a preposition? Do you understand tense and verb agreement? You should.
21. You are a writer so own up and say it out loud: “I am a writer.” Whether it’s a hobby or your profession, you have the right to this title.
22. Write, write, write, and then write some more. Forget everything else and just write.

Do you think these are the very best writing tips? If you have any tips to add to this list, leave them in the comments!

Environmentally Friendly Writing Tips

Today’s writing tips save the world!

My post today is part of a community action called Blog Action Day. This year, the focus in on the environment, and over fifteen thousand blogs are participating. For my contribution, I’d like to share writing tips that will help writers contribute to conservation and the environment by saving paper.

Why is it important to conserve paper? Many people believe that by saving paper, they are also saving trees, forests, and other woodlands. While there is some truth to this, the main reason that it’s important to save paper is to lessen the amount of waste we are dumping into our landfills. According to Paper University:

“Helping to reduce the amount of paper in landfills is an important task. Since each of us uses an average of 700 pounds of paper products per year, paper makes up almost a third of the material which goes into landfills.”

That’s a lot of paper resulting in far too much waste. So, without further ado, I bring you…

10 Writing Tips for Saving Paper, Trees, and Landfill Space

1. Recycle all used paper products.
2. Purchase and use recycled paper products.
3. When writing in a notebook or journal, write on both sides of every page.
4. When printing documents or manuscripts, use double-sided printing.
5. Get into the habit of doing as much writing as possible on your computer or laptop. Even if you’re more comfortable writing longhand, give it a try and make a genuine effort to switch to electronic writing.
6. Don’t print unless absolutely necessary. Practice working through your first draft edits and revisions on the screen.
7. Purchase a PDA, such as a Blackberry phone, which you can use for storing ideas and notes instead of jotting them down on a pocket notebook or other paper scraps.
8. Conversely, when you do need to jot down an idea, use those paper scraps! Keep them in a basket or box on your desk so you can always find them.
9. Be part of the e-mail revolution. Use e-mail whenever possible for written communications and submissions.
10. Encourage others to do the same! Whenever possible, let people know that you practice paper conservation. Tell them why and how, and encourage them to conserve, recycle, and write consciously too!

Do you have any environmentally friendly writing tips that writers can use to help conserve paper products and preserve our planet? Please share in the comments.

Writing Tips for Crafting Compelling Sentences

Nothing ruins a great story like weak words and poorly structured sentences.

We’ve all been there. You’re working through your first draft, or perhaps you’re making your way through revisions. The scene plays out in your mind like a movie. You can see it all clearly. But when you try to put it into words, it just doesn’t flow right.

In literature, language is what makes a piece of writing tick. The plot, the characters, they move through time and space on their own accord, but the words you use to tell their story give it rhythm and clarity.

Today’s writing tips tackle issues with word choice and sentence structure. Choosing the right words to describe what’s happening in a piece of writing can be challenging. A writer might spend an hour looking for a word that accurately captures the sentiment that he or she is trying to convey.

Sentence structure is even more critical. A weak word is like a missed beat, but a weak sentence is discord. It can confuse readers, pull them out of the story, and break the flow of the narrative.

Imagining a scene and then putting it into words can be a smooth ride. Sometimes the words and sentences arrive fully formed and ready for press. Other times, the language is jumbled or flimsy. When dealing with word choice and sentence structure, it’s often best to simply go with the flow. Write what comes to mind, and then go back and clean it up during the revision process. Some writers prefer to get the language as clear as possible during the first pass, and that’s okay too.

But just because a word doesn’t sound right or a sentence reads clumsily, that doesn’t mean it’s a throwaway. There are plenty of habits you can develop and techniques that you can apply to make your words resonate clearly and effectively.

Writing Tips

These writing tips deal with word choice and sentence structure. Some offer positive writing habits that you can develop and incorporate into your own writing process, others are quick solutions that you can use when you’re writing or rewriting.

Build your vocabulary - Nothing makes a sentence sing like words that are clear, specific, and vivid. Expand your arsenal by building your vocabulary. Read a lot and look up words you don’t know. Peruse the dictionary. Sign up for a “word of the day” newsletter. Keep a log of vocabulary words and spend a minute or two each day adding to it and studying your new words. One of the best ways to master language and vocabulary is through poetry exercises.

Avoid repetition – Nothing deflates a piece of writing like the same descriptive word unnecessarily used over and over. She had a pretty smile. She wore a pretty dress. She lived in a pretty house. This kind of repetition robs a story of its imagery, making it flat and two-dimensional.

Use a thesaurus - A thesaurus can help you build your vocabulary and provide a solution for repetition. Many writers avoid thesauri, thinking that reliance on one constitutes some writerly weakness. But your job is not to be a dictionary or word bank, it’s knowing how to find the perfect words.

Read drafts aloud to check the rhythm and flow – Reading aloud is great for catching mistakes and typos, but it can also help you with flow and rhythm. Take it a step further and record yourself reading an excerpt aloud. Does it flow naturally? If you keep tripping over your own sentences, there may be a problem with rhythm. Try alternating sentence lengths, breaking long sentences into shorter sentences, and joining sentences to fix the flow.

Pay attention to word choice – Why refer to something as a “loud noise” when you can call it a roar, din, or commotion? The more specific you are in your writing, the more easily the reader will be able to visualize the story. Choose words that are as concise, accurate, and as detailed as possible.

Simplify - Run-on sentences and short sentences strung together with commas and conjunctions create a lot of dust and noise in a piece of writing. In most cases, simple, straightforward language helps bring the action of a story to center stage. Use the simple subject-verb-object sentence structure to keep the text flowing and to prevent readers from getting confused.

Avoid filler words – I’ve gone back to this article several times since I first read it and have already passed it along to several writers whom I work with. In short, don’t tell the reader what the character is thinking, wondering, or feeling unless it’s essential to the narrative. Just let the action take its course and move the story forward.

Brush up on grammar – Nothing will clean up your writing more than using good, old-fashioned grammar. Pick up a grammar or style guide (a good starter guide is the Elements of Style) and spend some time mastering the rules. Yes, rules are made to be broken, but make sure you have a good reason when you break the rules and make sure it doesn’t impede the readability of your work.

Did you find these writing tips helpful? Do you have any tips or ideas to add? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

The Only Two Writing Tips You’ll Ever Need

I love collecting writing tips. You never know when you’re going to stumble across a golden nugget of wisdom that will make your writing richer and more vibrant. One of the reasons I started this website was so that I could share the many valuable tips that I’ve acquired over the years. I figure that if some bit of advice helped my writing, it’ll probably help other people’s as well.

But writing tips are funny things. What works for me might not work for you. Maybe you are naturally inclined to show rather than tell whereas I need someone to say “show, don’t tell.” Or maybe you only write nonfiction and have no use for tips on creating believable characters or riveting plots. Maybe you only write far-out, abstract poetry and could care less about good grammar.

Writers and Naysayers

We writers are a varied bunch. If you look closely, you’ll see that the world of writing is comprised of many different types of writers, each with different needs, goals, and standards. But we do all have one thing in common: we write.

And because we all write, there are certainly a couple of writing tips that apply to each and every one of us. In fact, I’d argue that there are just two things that every writer absolutely must do in order to succeed: read and write.

I can hear the naysayers now — but I only write when I’m feeling inspired; that’s what makes it REAL! I don’t have time to read. If I spend my time reading, how will I find time to write?

These thoughts will mostly get you into trouble. Firstly, if you don’t read and write regularly, your work will be sub-par (at best). Secondly, people will think you’re just plain lazy. And they’ll be right.

The Value Sheer Necessity of Reading

You should know that if you’re not well read, it will show in your writing. More than once, I’ve reviewed written work and asked the author, “Read much?” Almost always, the answer is exactly what I guessed. If the writing flows effortlessly, the writer reads a lot. If the writing is jagged, confusing, and amateurish, then the writer is not a big reader.

What I don’t understand is why anyone who doesn’t love to read would want to be a writer in the first place. Can you imagine a musician who never listens to music? A film director who doesn’t watch movies? These are the arts, people. You’re in it because you love it, with fierce passion. You’re going to need that passion if you want to get anywhere, and you’re going to have to be immersed in the art to which you aspire. For writers, that means reading. Lots and lots of reading.

If you listen to the masters of any art, you will notice they often mention names of those who inspired them. Writing, like any art, comes with a certain heritage. We absorb the works of those who have gone before us, let them teach us the craft, and then we go forth and create.

Besides, if you read voraciously, you’ll reap the benefits:

• You’ll naturally grow your vocabulary and pick up better language skills.
• You’ll learn new information or be entertained by books, articles, and stories.
• You will be able to speak intelligently about literature and writing.
• You will observe a cacophony of styles and your own voice will emerge.
• Your grammar, spelling, and punctuation will improve drastically, especially if you have high reading standards.

There are many more writerly perks that come from reading. Can you think of any to add?

Writers Write

It pretty much goes without saying, yet it has to be said again and again: If you want to be a writer, you must write. But how much must you write?

In an article titled “Outliers – 10,000 Hours for Success,” Marelisa Fábrega cites research conducted by neurologists and psychologists who collectively found that to become a true master at anything, one must put in 10,000 hours:

“In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice-skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or 20 hours a week, of practice over 10 years… No one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.“ – Daniel Levitin

Allow me to repeat the time it takes: 10,000 hours — three hours per day (or 20 hours per week) for ten years. That’s to become a master writer. Maybe you just want to be a published writer. In either case, you’re going to have to do a whole lot of writing. Take a few minutes today to think about how many hours you’ve spent writing (or reading, or both). A few hundred? A few thousand? Maybe you’re halfway there. Maybe you’ve passed the finish line and just need to start putting your work out there.

There’s no point sitting around daydreaming about becoming a writer, thinking someday I’ll write that novel. Someday is here. Someday was yesterday. It’s today. And it’s tomorrow. Someday is right now. So start writing — today and every day.

Learn from the Masters

Stephen King is an accomplished writer. He has sold an estimated 300-350 million copies of his novels and short stories. Many of his works have been adapted for film and television, including Carrie, Cujo, The Green Mile, and The Body, (which was made into the popular film Stand By Me). Mr. King has won numerous awards and received much critical acclaim. The sheer volume of his output is astounding. His success is vast, perhaps unparalleled. In fact, he’s one of the most successful writers of all time — if not the most successful.

Stephen King is exactly the kind of writer from whom the rest of us need to learn. Not just because he’s published (and published a lot), but also because his fans adore him, Hollywood loves him (writers make big bucks when they sell their film rights), and of course, there are all those awards and all that acclaim. But most importantly, Stephen King succeeded in doing what the rest of us writers strive to do — he makes a living as a writer.

Guess what writing tips Stephen King offers the rest of us? (Hint: watch the video below to find out).

Other Writing Tips

Like I said, I collect writing tips. I have a whole bunch of them clanking around inside my head. Some have been vital; others I could have done without. I will keep collecting these tips and sharing them with you, but none of them will be as powerful as read and write.

So keep taking notes. Look for new ways to get inspired, fresh approaches to language and story. Jot down all of your favorite writing tips and tricks in your journal. Use the ones that feel right and make your writing better.

But if you don’t do anything else, keep on reading and writing.

Do you read? How often do you write? What other writing tips have been useful to you? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Five Writing Tips for Kicking Writer’s Block and Getting Inspired

Every writer has been there: staring at a blank screen, waiting for the words to arrive. But they don’t. The words just won’t come. They will, soon. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Time’s passing and the words still don’t come. Maybe they never will.

You sit there feeling frustrated and uninspired.

What’s a writer to do? Well for starters, you can use the writing tips below. Fighting writer’s block is easier than it seems. But sitting there staring at the blank page will only build tension and continue to hinder your creativity by reinforcing the blockage that you’re experiencing. The trick to combating writer’s block is to remove yourself from your writing for a short time and get that creative energy flowing again. Fifteen to thirty minutes ought to do it.

Writing Tips for Blocking Writer’s Block

In some ways, these aren’t writing tips at all, because the most important way to fight writer’s block is to move your body, which will bring on relaxation and relieve tension. Or do something that gets your mind completely off whatever you’re working on by mentally diving into something different for awhile. Close your notebook and put it away, or stand up and walk away from your computer.

Here are five writing tips for non-writing activities that you can do:

1. Exercise. Take your dog for a short walk, or run through some simple stretches or yoga poses. Moving the body gets blood flowing and when blood flows to the brain, you become more productive and more receptive to your inner muse.
2. Chores. This is a great time to do the dishes. Fold that load of laundry that’s been sitting on the couch for a couple of days. It’s not spring cleaning, just a little daily maintenance that will get your body moving and your mind focused.
3. People. We all have phone calls to make, emails to send, and letters to open. Okay, maybe there aren’t many letters to open, just bills and junk mail. But you can take this time to get in touch with friends and family. You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you hang up the phone or click send and suddenly you know exactly what you want to write. Bonus Tip: get in touch with people who are writers and start sharing writing tips with each other!
4. Animals. Take some time to toss around the mouse toy for your cat. How long has it been since you gave your dog a good brushing? Spending quality time with pets has been scientifically proven to have health and relaxation benefits for both you and them, and you’ll find that it does wonders for your writing as well!
5. Meditate. Meditation serves many purposes. It puts us in touch with our higher power, our inner being, and does wonders for clearing and cleansing the mind. Even a brief ten or fifteen minute meditation will ease the burden of writer’s block and inspiration will come to you in no time!

Good luck and let me know if any of these writing tips help you ward off writer’s block by leaving a comment!

Writing Tips for Increased Productivity

It’s not easy to find time to write.

Even professional writers get caught up in paperwork and marketing and have to scramble to get the actual work of writing done.

But with careful planning and better time management, we can all learn how to carve out a little more time for writing.

Here are seven writing tips that will help you make or find more time to write, even if you have a packed schedule.

Writing Tips for Better Productivity

Try a few of these tried-and-true writing tips and productivity techniques and see which ones work for you:

1. Make it a point to write first thing every morning. Most people feel refreshed after a good night’s rest (and a hot cup of coffee!) so there’s no better time to get creative than in the a.m. If you can get some writing done before you hop in the shower, you’ll already have made a great start for the day!
2. Schedule writing sessions. If you have an over-packed, super busy schedule and your life is dictated by the notes on your calendar, then pen-in your writing time! Even if you can only squeeze in a half hour per day, you’ll see a dramatic increase in your output!
3. Give yourself a break. Squeezing writing time into breaks and lunches at work can help you increase your daily word count. Even a ten-minute writing binge could mean a huge breakthrough in your plot or that perfect bit of dialogue you’ve been looking for. Because some of our best writing ideas come when we’re enmeshed in other activities, mini writing breaks scattered throughout the day can move your project along in small but significant steps.
4. You can do it in the car. Don’t use pen and paper here, folks. Many cell phones are equipped with recording capabilities, and there are freestanding recording devices as well as gadgets that you can add on to your iPod, iPhone, or other mp3 player or smart phone. Use driving time to record your thoughts and you can transcribe them later. Bonus writing tip: Don’t have a recording device or add-on? Call yourself and leave a voice mail!
5. Sacrifice. Sometimes in life we have to make choices. Give up one of your TV shows and instead use that time for a weekly writing session. Reconsider accepting every single party invitation, and ask yourself if extra-curricular activities like playing on a community softball league are more important than getting your writing done.
6. Ask for help. If you have too much on your plate and simply cannot find time to write, try delegating other tasks to friends, co-workers, and family members. This will free up time in your schedule that you can devote to writing.
7. Turn off the internet. Need I say more?

Do you have any writing tips or tricks of your own that might help others find more time to write? Please share them in the comments.

Writing Tips for Getting and Staying Organized

I’m a pretty organized person. Over the years, I have spent countless hours re-organizing everything from the kitchen cupboards to my clothes-packed closet. Now, I’m turning all that organizing into a set of writing tips that you can use to get organized too.

People look at me strangely whenever I offer to help them reorganize their garage, but it’s actually a process I enjoy. When you organize your stuff and your space, your mind feels calmer and more organized too. You can think more clearly, and it feels good.

I’ve spent a lot of time organizing all of my writing projects and have developed a few good methods for keeping things in order.

Basically, all of my writing exists in two formats: print and digital. Years ago, I kept hard copies of everything, and tried many methods from file folders to binders.

As I tried each organizational method, I would figure out what worked well and what didn’t work at all. Now, most of my work is stored digitally, but I do still keep some old hard copies stashed away.

Since I put so much thought into how I organized my own projects, I thoughts I’d share my organizational writing tips so you can learn from all my hard work.

Writing Tips for Organizing Printed Material

After trying many different strategies for organizing hard copies, I realized that binders are the way to go. Why?

• You can purchase thick 3-5″ binders and cram in as much as possible.
• Organizing is easy with tabbed dividers.
• The pages go in and out easily by opening the rings.
• Clear-cover binders can be customized with fancy spine and cover inserts.
• There are a host of binder accessories available from bags that hold pens and pencils to folders that you can clip in to hold pages that aren’t hole-punched.

Eventually, more and more of what I’d written was in the digital format. The material in my binders became dated and being environmentally conscious, I started opting to do regular electronic backups over the antiquated print method.

Writing Tips for Organizing Electronic Files

I’ve struggled with how to organize my electronic writing folder. For some reason, printed materials are easier to group and label. By using subfolders, I’ve been able to create navigable directories that make it easy to find anything and everything I’ve written.

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

• Notes and Ideas – a collection of notes that I’ve typed from my college days, story ideas, brainstorming sessions, and writing tips I’ve saved.
• Completed Works – ready to be sent out or published.
• In Progress – anything that is not polished, with subfolders:
  • Fiction
  • Poetry
  • Non-fiction
  • Scripts
• Journals and Freewrites – pretty self-explanatory and very password protected
• Blogs and Internet – copies of my blog posts and related notes.
• Feedback – feedback and critiques that I have given and received.
• Submissions – copies of work that I’ve submitted along with a spreadsheet for tracking submissions.
• Research for Writing Projects – information that I’ve found online and have copied and pasted into Word because I think it might come in handy someday for one of my projects.

I reorganize this whole mess about once a year. I just went through it a couple of weeks ago and did a little fall cleaning, and I found that this system works well for keeping files where I can find them quickly and easily.

Tell me, how do you keep your writing files organized? Share your organizational writing tips in the comments!

Writing Tips For Staying on Your Game

Believe it or not, there are a few writing tips that we writers can steal from athletes, strategies that show us how to stay in shape and on top of our game.

Athletes work hard even when they’re off the field. They spend hours practicing with their teams. They run miles around the track when nobody else is around. They swim the laps, dunk the balls, and sweep their rackets. And they do all this so that when it’s time to play, they’ll steal the show and take home the trophy.

We all went to elementary school, where we learned our ABC’s and how to diagram a sentence. In high school, we read the classics and wrote the essays. Now we’ve been let loose on the field. We pen articles, publish blogs, peck away at novels, and compose poetry.

So, how do we stay in shape when we’re not dribbling all over the court?

Writing Tips for Good Fitness

Most writing tips address creativity and productivity – but these tips are all about staying fit. After all, fitness isn’t just for athletes. Every professional needs to keep their professional muscles toned and eyes on the ball.

• Work out: As a writer, you need to give your language center a good workout every now and then. Read a book or brush up on the rules of grammar. Challenge yourself with a crossword puzzle or a game of Scrabble.
• Gather your equipment: Find good, solid resources that you can use to stay on top of your game. Find a blog or a book, a podcast or a video series. Look for resources and sources of inspiration that will help you build up your weaknesses and maximize your strengths as a writer.
• Do your exercises: If you want to write but don’t know what to write about, then try some writing exercises or prompts. These are also ideal for building your skills and toning underused muscles. In other words, if you’re a fiction writer, do some poetry exercises. If you’re a poet, try some storytelling prompts.
• Show up for practice: Write every day. If you don’t write as part of your job, then set aside ten to twenty minutes for daily writing practice in your journal — even if you can’t work on your larger projects, you should still write something, anything, every day.
• Game plan:  Don’t haphazardly write whenever the fancy strikes you. Think about what you want to write, then develop a game plan or a five- or ten-year strategy to achieve your writing career goals.
• Eye on the ball: Once you’ve set your goals, revisit them annually, monthly, or better yet — weekly.
• Win the match: Every time you reach a milestone, reward yourself with a trophy. Celebrate your accomplishments, no matter how small. Was that your 100th rejection? Treat yourself to an ice cream cone. Did you just land your first byline? Get a massage. Book deal? Take a vacation.

Those of you who have been visiting Writing Forward for a while know that I am big advocate for working hard and trying to continuously grow as a writer. The sooner you start working your writer’s muscles, the sooner you’ll be in tip-top shape and on top of your game. Why not start now?

Keep on writing!

Do you have any writing tips to share? Leave a comment or send in a guest post!