A Writer’s Life: Part 3

May the fourth be with you! :) Rule number 6 for a successful writer's life is to:

6. "Read, read, read." It is important to always be reading, both rereading classics that you love, and, exploring new things. It is important to read books in the period of time you want to write about. That way you can immerse yourself in the time period and culture. Then you can better understand, and then write about, the styles and the issues of that time or genre. It is also key to read contemporary authors, and to keep up on modern issues. Then, as well as writing about internal, eternal struggles, we can better incorporate modern issues in our writing to make it relevant to readers now.

7. "Accept criticism." It may seem like a no-brainer so we can improve, but it is easier said than done. We need to separate our writing from the worth of our soul. We need to remember that the critiques are on the writing, NOT on you as an individual. Accepting criticism is the only way to improve. If we don't know what is broken then how can we fix it? :) In addition to being open to others critiquing our works, we need to be able to critique our own works. "We built this thing and we can rebuild it." ~Brother Allen. That gives us a lot of encouragement, that if we revise something, or even strip our work to its bare bones and start all over, we can build it back up again, and, even better than it used to be. Our final product and manuscript is often completely different than the initial vision of it. Writing a book is a collaboration. Elbert Hubbard said, "to avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." So, let's take action and be bold, and get to work writing and revising! :) What drastic changes have you made in your own writing from when you first started your own manuscript to now?