New Year's Resolutions For Writers
Ten Things to Improve Your Writing and Make it More Saleable
Here are ten things any non-fiction writer can do to increase the chances of getting assignments and making article sales
Writers, like everyone else, make a lot of New Year’s Resolutions. And, like most people, they break those resolutions quickly. It doesn’t have to be that way with every resolution. The ten listed here can easily be kept with a little discipline and a lot of determination to move forward in your writing career. After all, writing is hard work and, unless you are a staff writer with an expense account and a great salary, new assignments and sales are never guaranteed, but non-fiction is always in demand. Where would magazines, newspapers, corporations, and the internet be without non-fiction writers?
To start this New Year off right, here are ten things you can do to improve your chances of getting assignments and selling more of your work.
- Write every day. Even if you have another job, find the time to write and be creative in an illustrated journal (for more, read Create an Illustrated Journal), or keep track of your thoughts in your working journal. Just write.
- Read every day. Not only will you find new ideas for articles, essays and books, you will keep your mind ‘toned’.
- Send out an article query a day. Perhaps you do this, or perhaps you send out more than one a day. If you don’t, then get in the habit of doing this to increase your chances of getting more ‘yes’ replies from editors. After all, if an editor doesn’t know who you are or how you can write, you’re not going to get an assignment.
- Reevaluate where you are in your writing career, and where you hope to be this time next year. Write down the goals you want to accomplish; somehow, when you put a goal in writing it becomes more substantial, less easy to dismiss.
- Promote yourself whenever the opportunity arises. Hand out your business card, contact an editor who hasn’t heard from you in a while to update him or her on what you’ve been writing, or drop the fact that you are a writer into a conversation with someone new. Writers seem loath to promote themselves, which is unfortunate, since promotion is such an important part of a writer’s career.
- Learn something new this year. Maybe it’s more about a period in history that has always interested you, or learning to play the piano. Whatever that new thing is, the process of learning will keep you curious, and curiosity is vital to a writer.
- Visit an art gallery or a museum, in person, or online, and be inspired by the creativity of others. Great online visits: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Portrait Gallery of Canada, or the Tate Modern.
- Look - really look - at where you live. So many wonderful things are missed because we are often so focused on the destination that we forget the journey. Even a seemingly insignificant trip to the corner store might reveal something that gets your creative juices flowing.
- Buy yourself a new dictionary, a big, thick, hardcover volume, if you can afford it. Despite computer programs with thesaurus, spelling and grammar features, there is still nothing like leafing through a dictionary to find that perfect word.
- Reflect on your good fortune to be a writer. It's an amazing vocation.
For more ideas to make this a great writing year, read about New Year's Resolutions for fiction writers.
