The title says it all. Yesterday I was reading some craft books and I came across some really good tips for aspiring writers. I wanted to share them on my blog to help other aspiring writers as well, so that they can be their best writerly self!

• Don’t Worry Too Much About Building Your Platform – Yes, having a presence on social media is important, but first you need to finish whatever project you are working on. You don’t want to spend valuable writing time working on posting pictures to your Instagram (unless you did all your writing for the day!) when you could be taking steps closer to finishing your manuscript. Besides, you have so much time after you finish your manuscript to take on social media.
• Attend Writer’s Conference/Writing Groups – It is so important to reach out to other writers not just over social media, but in person. Going to writer’s conference lets you do that, and you can also make valuable contacts from established writers, editors, publishers, agents, etc. They are also a lot of fun to attend! Writer’s groups are equally important, and most places have one so do some research and make some writing friends! Those people might become your critique group which will be an incredibly important asset to your writing journey.
• Reflect on Your Writing Process in a Journal – I express this a lot, and that is to write in a journal! It is a great writing exercise to just allow yourself to free write about really anything, but it is also a good way to remind yourself how far you have come and where you are at. Write down what you have accomplished in this past month, or even year. Just seeing in words what you have done will make you feel better about your writing.
• Set Goals and Stay Accountable – When it comes to goals, set big ones but not entirely out of reach. You can even write these goals down in your journal and make sure you tell yourself why you want to achieve them and how you are going to do that. Another tip when it comes to setting goals is to create a deadline for these goals. If that deadline is too long sometimes you won’t start thinking about that goal until it is almost to late. Personally, I make overall, big annual goals that I set out to achieve each year, but I also create bimonthly goals (two months) that are stepping stones to these big goals.
• Always Ask These Three Questions About Your Story – Whether you are outlining or sitting down to write, always ask yourself these three questions about your story: Who is my story about? What is their goal? What will keep them from that goal? It will remind you what path you need to take in your writing, and fuel new ideas!

Those are several tips I managed to collect from some craft books and I hope you enjoyed! Since this post was based off of craft books, I left a short list below of some of my favourites that I think both aspiring and established writers would benefit from. Also, don’t forget to check out my last blog post also linked below.

Last Blog Post: April 2018 TBR

Craft Book Recommendations:

Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market

Novel & Short Stories Market

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