Writers/authors please lend me your attention?

I chose writing as a career path. Do you have any advice for me? I will cherish these words forever!

Writers/authors please lend me your attention?debt consolidation

That%26#039;s an incredibly broad field! Do you have any ideas as to what you want to do within writing? Do you want to be a freelancer? An editor? A novelist? A poet? A copywriter? A technical writer?

First, keep in mind that less than 5% of writers can make a living on writing alone. That means that more than 95% need to have a day job to support themselves!

There are TONS of books on writing! Most bookstores have at least several shelves in the reference section packed with them. I have a top ten list here:

http://www.squidoo.com/booksonbooks

If you are looking into freelance writing, I just read %26quot;Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer%26quot; by Jenna Glatzer (a prolific freelancer). It%26#039;s probably the best book I%26#039;ve ever come across about the business side of freelancing. Highly recommended.

I would recommend buying a notebook strictly for story ideas. Just a cheap spiral bound one is fine! I like having something that I can take with me or leave by my bed (I tend to have great ideas when I can%26#039;t sleep). When inspiration strikes, I write down some notes on the plot and characters. Personally, I limit myself to writing a page for each idea but length doesn%26#039;t really matter.

Practice whenever you can. Writing is about dedication and persistance--- so many people have the first 10 pages of a novel written somewhere but never complete it! It%26#039;s hard work, but very rewarding.

Observe the people around you. Writers should be great people-watchers. But consciously listening and watching the people you interact with, you will find that the characters you write are more realistic. The speech patterns you hear in the world can bring quite a bit of depth to a character.

Read. A lot. Read in the genre(s) you want to write, and read things that are completely unrelated.

Have you ever heard of NaNoWriMo? It stands for National Novel Writing Month. It isn%26#039;t until November, but you can check out the site and have them email you a reminder. Basically, the goal is to write a 50,000 word manuscript over the course of 30 days. Some write serious ones, some are just silly, but it%26#039;s a lot of fun and good motivation to get to work!

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Expect rejection. Even the most popular and famous books were rejected numerous times before they were published. Gone With the Wind racked up 38 rejections before it was accepted! Develop a thick skin now because getting published is HARD!

Edited to add:

Let%26#039;s do a little math. A first novel most likely isn%26#039;t going to get an advance of more than about $10,000 BEFORE taxes. Once you take out taxes, your agents cut, what you paid for editing, and any you want to use for advertising, you%26#039;d be lucky to have a month%26#039;s rent left. You may be confident you can get far, but so are the thousands of other people querying their novels right now. Don%26#039;t give up writing, but get a day job.

Also, Taja-- it%26#039;s not that only 5% of writers make it. It%26#039;s that only 5% of writers get paid enough to live on it. Many of the rest are writing and publishing great stuff, they just need help to pay the bills from a day job.

Writers/authors please lend me your attention?

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So did I! I%26#039;m not experienced at all, though, so my only words to you: %26quot;Good luck! Never give up!%26quot;

Will you please answer my question now? http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...|||Well, firstly, write only when you have the inspiration. Because if you force yourself, then believe me-the writing would seem stale, trite, devoid of emotion, and most of all, uninteresting. So, anytime you get ideas, write them down in a notebook. And do writing prompts on the Internet(just search writing prompts on google and it will come up) in order to strengthen your skills.

Secondly, whether you%26#039;re an aspiring poet or novelist, get ready to edit excessively. No one-no matter how talented in writing they seem to be- will not write a perfect first draft.Also, Be open to constructive criticism also because besides a writer%26#039;s inspiration, constructive criticism are one of the most important tools of a writer, and definitely enables a writer to improve.

Thirdly, definitely stick to your dreams of being a writer, but have an extra job you might enjoy. Because only 5% of writers only make it on the income alone from being an author, so just get a day job just in case so you can survive and have shelter. However, there are many other fields invovling writing, so maybe you should have a day job that involves writing, such as a journalist?

However, just because only 5% would probably make it as an author, doesn%26#039;t mean you%26#039;ll never will. If you stay optimistic and work hard enough, then I%26#039;m sure that I will see your name on a bestselling book one day.

So lastly, please expect rejection- All of the prominent writers you know now has experienced it a lot of times. However, never give up on writing. Writing is a very important and beautiful art that always should live on, and eventhough it could be quite arduous at times, it%26#039;s satisfying in general.

Good luck!

Edit:second answerer, I know that. Only 5% of writers could be supported on income alone as a author. But writing is a very broad field and there are a lot of careers involving writing! Writers could still get published-eventhough like I said in my previous paragraphs, you would need a day job to survive.

Thanks for pointing that out though.

Second edit: Budding Author is right. Please be a writer for the passion of it- not for the potential money. Not to be negative, but if you%26#039;re planning to be a author, then life is not going to be easy.|||You will cherish these words forever?

I dont think so!

I was in a pub one evening, standing at the bar, deep in thought, I had just started to write a book a few weeks earlier, not as a career but just stuff I needed to get off my chest.

A feller came up to the bar and noticed a long lost friend also standing at the bar, there was a lot of back slapping and greetings going on, then one asked the other what he was doing for a living, his friend replied that he was an author!

The other guy just looked at him and said, %26quot;OK but what are you doing for a living?%26quot;

That just about sums it up, you dont write to make money, very few can make money out of it.

I went through the usual things in life, school , college , apprenticeship and loads of work experience, travelled all over the world working on contract jobs.

Then after about a life time , I had enough, I was on great money but really sick of all the travel, I needed to settle down.

I saw an ad%26#039; in my local home newspaper, %26quot;Technical Author required%26quot; I hadnt got a clue what a tech author was, I went to the interview and sailed through it, I spent the last 10 years of my working life doing that job, still on contract but all at home in the UK.

Money was better than I ever earned, money for old rope!

Now you have %26#039;chosen%26#039; to take up writing as a career.

Sorry to burst your bubble but if you are writing novels etc your chances of making a living out of it are about zero.

As a hobby and because its something you enjoy doing , then fair enough, but you will need a %26#039;proper job%26#039; to feed your self on.

Not much in the way of encouragement there, but life isnt that easy!

However good luck, I hope you prove me wrong.