My Top 7 Tips For Aspiring Writers — Not Without My Coffee

I get asked about writing and blogging all the time so I decided to share my tips in a blog post.

WRITE

If you want to be a writer...write. There's a reason you desire to be a writer and most likely it's because you have something to say. Write as much as you can about whatever comes to mind. Try not to edit yourself. As you write, you will uncover your passions and your unique writing voice.

READ

Read! Read everything and anything. Since I was a little girl, I would read anything I could get my hands on. I'm sure I would annoy my mother as I would literally read every street sign, advertisement, anything that could be read, just like my girls do now. Scratch that- read what you enjoy reading. If you love comics, read those. If romance novels are your thing, read them. For years I tried to make myself read fiction because I thought that was what I needed to be into but it’s not my thing. But, if you sat me in a room full of self-help and business (non-fiction) books, well, I'd be in HEAVEN!

FLOW

Stop editing yourself- "Write now, edit later”. A friend was debating me on this recently. She said that she constantly edits herself as she writes. I was adamant that you should write as much as you can and edit later. The reason for this is to not interrupt your creative flow. Let your words pour out without constantly correcting yourself.

FOLLOW OTHERS

Follow other writers whose work you admire. What are they doing that you can emulate? Can you draw inspiration from them? Follow them and see how they unfold their writing into their daily lifestyles.

WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW

Write what you love or a topic you want to know more about. When I started writing (publicly) I stuck to the topics I knew about; career tips and later, parenting. I had so much content naturally because I was heavily involved with these topics and it made writing easy.

GET YOUR WORK IN FRONT OF OTHERS

Perhaps the hardest initial step is getting your writing in front of others. I regret waiting so long to get published. You may fear being criticized or wonder if your writing is good enough. But over time, and with a lot of writing practice, you will gain confidence and you'll want to show off your work.

BLOG

Start a blog. start a blog. start a blog. start a blog. READ: Start a blog! Starting a blog has been the best experience for my writing. Not only am I writing what I want to write, but I’m learning so much everyday. Before I had my own blog, I used to write for magazines and websites, and while I loved that I was writing for big names and being published on sites like HuffPost, I love that I have my own little piece of real estate on the web where I edit and own my work.

What are your favorite tips for writing?