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Improve Your Writing Skills Today!

By on January 5, 2017
Improve Your Writing Skills Today! - Writer's Life.org

Whether you are hoping to finally write that novel or looking to start a freelance writing career, having good writing skills is crucial.

The best writers will always be looking for ways to improve their writing skills. Even if you have been writing for years, it is important to try and learn new things and to continue to learn and grow.

So what are some quick and easy things you can do to brush up on your writing skills and become a better writer? Try these:

Go back to basics

It is very easy to forget the basics, especially for those who have been writing for many years. Take a moment to go back to the start and make sure you definitely know the basic principals of writing. You don’t have to be a grammar and punctuation expert (everyone makes mistakes after all) but understanding the general rules is still important. If your submission is full of errors, this will be picked up on straight away and seriously undermines your chances of success.

Practice makes perfect

If writing isn’t part of your job, you can still act like it is. Until you take writing seriously, it is going to be hard to improve. The more you write, the better you will naturally become; you will pick up on things and learn from your mistakes. Practice your writing as much as possible, and you will soon find it comes easier to you, and will, therefore, become more enjoyable too.

Read everything

The more widely read you are the better your writing will become. Not only will reading give you a plethora of knowledge, ideas and inspiration, it will also help you pick up different styles and techniques which you can the employ in your own writing, making it richer and more interesting for both you and your readers alike.

Take a class

OK so this might not be a possibility for everyone but if you can join a writing workshop or class this will help your work no end. A writing class will give you the opportunity to meet like-minded people, experiment with different styles, tackle specific obstacles, obtain invaluable feedback and learn new skills from a successful expert.

Think about why you love to write, what you love to write, and which writers you admire

Understanding your motivations for writing, why you want to write what you do and looking closely at those authors you just can’t get enough of will help your writing continue to get better. It will keep you focused on why you find so much joy in writing - and keep you persevering no matter how tough it gets.

Be a great editor

Improving your writing skills requires you to be a great editor. Practice this whenever you can. Sometimes it is hard to edit your work because you are too close to it, so try editing other peoples. Learning what is required to be a great editor and honing your skills will mean you are far more likely to pick up on your own errors and inconsistencies and therefore continue to improve your work and make it in the best possible shape before you submit.

Don’t be a perfectionist

If you want to be a great writer you are going to have to learn to let go of your work at some point. Nothing is ever perfect and if you try too hard to make your writing so you run this risk of hindering it rather than helping it. Learn to let go and trust that you have done your best otherwise you could find it is too late!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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