Part 1 was the decision to go whole hog and then develop your tagline as a writer that kind of sets the mood for your journey.
Part 3 isn’t so easy. Writing better, more complex stories. While writing well is always the goal, committing to learning to write better isn’t. It’s tough. I already have a toughened ego from years of being edited and rejected. Now, I have to learn to open myself up further to accept instruction, take it to heart and use it to write better.
I’ve purchased probably 50 writing books and have kept about 10 close to my heart ad writing area. After I got my first three published, I went back and looked for the deeper meaning or things that didn’t apply to me then but now had special meaning for me.
When I found out my editor used a writing program to catch the more mundane problems, I bought the program. One is AutoCrit, another is ProWriting Aid and a third is Grammerly. They all have a free option where you can’t put in as many words as the pay version but you can certainly slog your way through them to see if they might help. (They will.)
Mine catches such things as vague or abstract words, over used words, sticky sentences, too many pronouns, etc. Things I don’t want to think about as I write the first draft.
Do you stand out in a crowd? I think it’s always the writing and the story and the characters but once you get close, branding is the edge to set you up for success.
Part 4 Stoicism in the face of Criticism
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