Sarah Osborne
I have a lot of advice, probably because I wrote a long time before I saw the light of publication. Here's a little of it.
1) Figure out why you are writing.
Is it because you want to see your name on a book or because you want to appear on a talk show or because there is simply something burning inside you that must be said. For me, I had to realize I wrote because I had to, because it grounded me, and gave me enormous pleasure to create a world in which everything came out all right. This revelation came to me about six months before I found a publisher and years after I had started writing. it made all the difference. I decided if, in fact I was writing for an audience of six friends, I could live with that. What I wanted to do and still continue to want to do is make every book better written than the one before it. Quite a goal I know!
2) Come to the realization that all (or most) good writing is about revision.
Early on, like most writers I suspect, I thought once I finished a book, that book was finished. If I had the talent I thought I had or hoped I had, agents would be fighting to represent me. My problem would be deciding on the person to repesent me.
That isn't the way it works for most of us. The first draft is just that. Your book marinates and improves each time you take another pass at it. Revision is the key to writing a good book along with a willingness to take well-meaning feedback from people who like what you do and want to see you make it better.
This is the tip of the iceberg for my advice column, but I'll save more for next week.
1) Figure out why you are writing.
Is it because you want to see your name on a book or because you want to appear on a talk show or because there is simply something burning inside you that must be said. For me, I had to realize I wrote because I had to, because it grounded me, and gave me enormous pleasure to create a world in which everything came out all right. This revelation came to me about six months before I found a publisher and years after I had started writing. it made all the difference. I decided if, in fact I was writing for an audience of six friends, I could live with that. What I wanted to do and still continue to want to do is make every book better written than the one before it. Quite a goal I know!
2) Come to the realization that all (or most) good writing is about revision.
Early on, like most writers I suspect, I thought once I finished a book, that book was finished. If I had the talent I thought I had or hoped I had, agents would be fighting to represent me. My problem would be deciding on the person to repesent me.
That isn't the way it works for most of us. The first draft is just that. Your book marinates and improves each time you take another pass at it. Revision is the key to writing a good book along with a willingness to take well-meaning feedback from people who like what you do and want to see you make it better.
This is the tip of the iceberg for my advice column, but I'll save more for next week.
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