5 Top tips for a Writer in the New Year

It’s been said many times that everyone has a book in them somewhere, but could this be the year that you finally get your magnum opus finished? After all, you don’t need self publishing services until you’ve written your book! Why not make it your New Years Resolution to get writing?

Perhaps it seems like a pretty big a mountain to climb, especially when you might still be standing at the very bottom, so here are some helpful tips to get you started, and hopefully keep you going!

1. Set aside a time to write a little everyday. It doesn’t matter if it’s only 15 minutes, but little and often will mount up to a lot more writing than you might think, even in just a couple of weeks. Plus, who can’t spare a quarter of an hour? It’s much harder to make excuses when you don’t set your time goals too high.

2. Unless you’re very disciplined or know exactly what you want to write, don’t feel like you need to stick to a chronological method of writing. Let inspiration take you to the part of the story you want to tell today. After all, you’re going to need to edit your material at a later point anyway so it really doesn’t matter if it doesn’t come out in exactly the right order.

3. Talking of editing, don’t try and edit as you go. That way madness lies, believe me! It’s far better to just write and get as many ideas and thoughts down on paper as you can. Editing is for later on, and you never know what little gems will pop up that might come in handy another day.

4. Share! Find a friend or fellow writer to share your work with. I’m not saying you should send them pages and pages at a time, you’ll use up their patience pretty fast! However I do recommend perhaps meeting up and reading small sections aloud, or talking them through your main characters or subject mater. If you’d rather not, read aloud to yourself. It’s surprising how things gain clarity when you move them off the page.

5. Keep reading, go out for walks and watch the sunset, watch movies, however you like to do it, inspiration is always important. Keep your mind fed and it’ll keep you writing!

So if you do decide to write your big work this year, good luck, keep at it! And remember, there is no right way to be a writer. You just have to find the way that works for you.