Hello friends!

Sorry I missed a post last month, but let’s jump right back into it.

This month we are going to focus on how you can tell if your own writing is improving.

We are always going to be our biggest critics. No matter your job, hobbies, or interests, no one is going to know how far you’ve come or how far you are still going except YOU. As writers, we can be very hard on ourselves. Trust me, I know. It’s easy to compare our work or our progress to the successes of others. As we read stories it’s easy to say “I wish my writing felt like this.”

When we begin to think like this, our writing starts to feel like a chore. WE DO NOT WANT THIS. There are ways to find improvement in your writing, and keeping an eye out for these will not only help you get your writing voice where you want it to be, but it will also boost your confidence and your enjoyment of your own work.

I remember one of the very first meetings I had with my editor for the third book in the T.S.O. series, Recruited. My editor told me “This is some of the best writing I’ve seen you do, but this one part of the story needs to be completely changed.” Her words stick with me even now. Despite the heavy amount of work this book still needs, which is what I’m currently working on, she was still able to notice the level of improvement from book one to book three. This conversation I had with her helped me learn how to look at my own work and recognize where I’ve gotten better in my craft and where I can grow.

I started writing my first book for the Teen Spy Organization with I was thirteen. It’s been years since then, and I’m still working on the same series with the same characters, but my writing is better.

As you read through this list for ways to recognize and work on your own improvement, keep this in mind. You can always work on the technical part of the craft, the grammar, and the structure. But the biggest improvement will come when you feel confident in your own work and can recognize your own accomplishments.

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How to Know if Your Writing is Improving

Your sentence structure and length vary. When your sentences become more fluid and diverse, you are definitely getting better in your writing. I love to think of the Hunger Games for this example. The author does a wonderful job of varying sentence structure. All your sentences can’t sound the same. Some can be really long. Others are very short.No overwriting!I still do this one a lot, and it’s a hard habit to break out of.Overexplaining is a sign that you still have room to grow. Trust that your readers will understand what you’re trying to say the first time you say it.You don’t use THAT unless you have toBy THAT I mean the literal word. That. My editor taught me this trick. If you don’t need to put the word THAT in a sentence, don’t.In fact, if you don’t need to put any word in a sentence, DON’T. This goes back to the concept of not overwriting.Your vocabulary fits your storySynonyms are your best friends here. You will be improving greatly if your vocabulary choices match your story genre and age level. You also want to make sure you avoid using the same word multiple times in a sentence or paragraph. Doing so will make your reading redundant and will lose your reader’s attention.Your writing feels naturalIt can take a long time to find your writer’s voice, and that’s okay.When you get to the point where your words start to feel like your own and not like the latest book you read, you are absolutely on your way to being a great writer.

These are just a few ways to analyze your own writing to tell if you’re improving. I’m still working on a few of these myself, and things like finding your writer’s voice is a process that will last as long as your writing career. Don’t let it overwhelm you.

The most important thing to keep in mind is knowing yourself. Don’t get caught up on the need to get better, or to improve your writing or your craft. Focus on your story. Have fun with it. The improvement in your skills will come naturally with practice.

The best way to improve your writing is to write.

With that being said, it’s time for me to get back to editing! Until next month, happy writing!

-R.E. Klinzing