Making Your Writing the Best

Tips to Make Your Writing the Best
Best Writing Resources on the Web

Tips to Make Your Writing the Best

Rule Number 1: Do not submit your query, proposal or manuscript if it's not ready.
Rule Number 2: Remember rule number 1.

The first sentence of your book should be the best sentence in the first chapter. The first sentence in your article should be the best sentence in the full article.

“I can imagine a writer reading a book and saying to themselves, 'I can do better than this.' I can also imagine the same writer reading his own work and admitting sheepishly, 'I can do better than this.' Perhaps, 'I can do better then this' is the real writers credo.” - Pat Walsh, an editor, independent publisher, reporter, and the author of 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might.

Mark Twain wisely said, “You don't get a second opportunity to make a good first impression.”

Mary E. DeMuth (RelevantProse.com) gives good advice, “Now that I've had a little more publishing experience, I sometimes get folks asking me to read their writing. Almost always, it is poorly formatted, unclear, mundane, or is a personal experience story that does not connect well with the general market. A conference is a good place not merely to network, but to hone the craft. And to ask for true, honest feedback. Welcome what the professionals say. Determine to keep a tender heart with a thick skin.
  I am the product of a writing mentor who told me the truth about my writing. She said I had potential, which greatly encouraged me, and then she told me the things to work on. I worked on them. I went to conferences. I read writing books. I joined a critique group. I poured over writing magazines. And my writing improved. Eventually, I wrote a book, and then a few more, and some got purchased. But none of it would have happened had I not taken the advice of other writers and spent dedicated time honing the craft.
  A conference isn't merely a place to hawk your wares. It's a place to hone the craft.”

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