I’ve dealt with the hurdle of a lack of experience and I’ve talked about why it’s important that you get out there and write your story, now I’m going to address your insecurities about your writing abilities and why that should not stop you from writing a book. Plus, I’ll share with you strategies for improving your writing ability.
There Are Ways to Get Around Any Obstacle
If you want to write a book badly enough, your lack of writing ability will not stop you. You can get around any obstacle you face if you are determined to succeed. When it comes to writing, the solution to get around this is to partner with someone who can help you or to talk out your book idea into a recorder. You don’t have to let your poor grammar, spelling, or punctuation stop you.
Improving Your Writing Begins with Reading
Reading is the easiest way to become a better writer. You will absorb the language as you see it in use. You will expose yourself to more ideas and more ways of expressing yourself. Avoid reading on the internet as it’s generally a mixed bag of goods when it comes to correct use of language. Instead, pick up a book from the library or the used book store.
Alternate between reading fiction and non-fiction. Fiction will help you become better at painting pictures with your words and at empathizing with other people. Non-fiction will improve your problem-solving skills and help you gain new insights and find inspiration as you learn.
If you come to a word you do not understand, write it down and look it up. Not only will you improve your vocabulary this way but you will be better able to understand the content of the book.
Make a Reading Plan
Make a reading plan. Read a minimum of one chapter a day. The more you read, the less time reading an entire chapter will take. The more you read, the better your writing will become.
Study the Rules
This doesn’t sound like much fun, and it isn’t. But it’s important for you to begin to master the rules of your craft, just as it is important for a doctor or an architect or anyone else in a profession. Words matter. How you use them matters.
Understand that grammar is the key that unlocks the code of language. When you use the wrong grammatical symbol, you send your reader the wrong message. Buy a writer’s reference book, preferably one with exercises you can do. Then practice for at least 10 minutes a day each and every day.
Make a Commitment
You aren’t studying the craft of writing for you. Remember you are doing this for your readers. Until you get your grammar and your spelling in order, you live at the mercy of others to help your readers get the full benefit of the story you’re trying to tell them or the knowledge you’re trying to pass on to them. They need that story or that information to help them improve their lives. That’s why you need to work on improving your skills.
So make a commitment to them that you will work on improving each and every day. Because they deserve it, and so do you. So, in the comments box below, I invite you to write out the following sentence,
“I, (insert your name), firmly commit to improving my writing skills and not to allow my lack of knowledge to stop me from serving others by sharing my (story or knowledge).”
Sharing it in a comments box may feel silly, but the act of writing it out makes it more permanent and solid in the brain. Plus, since you are commenting using Facebook, your friends are going to know you are making this commitment and they are going to be watching to see whether or not you keep it.
Next Post: Writing Is Too Hard
Now that I’ve tackled three of the major reasons people decide to put off their writing, it’s time to tackle the next obstacle: the difficulties involved in writing. I’ll discuss this in my blog post and pass along to you things that I’ve learned through writing and publishing books over the last 4 years.