If this is your first visit, and you want to become a respected author, then go back and read posts one through five. My system is fully explained. It will save you years of time.
For everyone else, let me summarize. (Remember if you have any questions, or you think I'm headed for a crash, please add your comments. I'll do my best to get us back on the straight and narrow.)
(Not that you're a horse, but...) I've led you to water...
Everything you need is here. From now on, it's up to you. I've given you all the tools you'll need, plus enough to build your race course. The finish line is there, it's up to you to get out there and run.
To be a writer, you have to write. Creating a Blog, allows you to write, but with that little extra. Knowing your words will be read by the entire world, you'll think about what you've written.
It won't just be words in a spiral notebook, uncopied, misspellings, half sentences, confused thoughts. A Blog forces you rewrite what you've done. Pride takes over.
"People are going to read this, so I gotta get this to make some kind of sense."
For the newbie, once you press, 'Publish,' you can now call yourself a writer. "I'm a writer, check out my blog." (Make it your best.)
If you can find a more interesting way to practice writing, please tell me. My first blog, where I practiced, was StiffLeftJab.com, a sports blog. After a year and 96 posts, I stared writing short stories. (Flower Street Melodramas).
If you haven't got your Blog up and running, get busy. (Blogger or WordPress. They're free). And if you're nervous about writing under your own name, come up with a pen name. I did. My first blog was written under the name Cornelius Butterfield.
No NFL coach will start a high school QB in his season opener. (Probably against NFL rules, anyway,) but you get the idea. Same here. You have to go through an apprenticeship. Follow my posts. It’s one year. Only then will an agent read beyond your first paragraph.
Keep reading. (Post #3) You have to get the flow, the rhythm, the words in your head.
My schedule. (You might have to improvise. I'm retired so scheduling my day is no problem.) If you get away from FaceBook, and Twitter, you'll free up plenty of time.
I write (#2) at a coffee shop every morning, 6:30-9am. About eight pages, hand written, (Goldberg # 3). When I get home, I type it into my laptop. Eight pages becomes three. When I've typed about 10 pages, about three days’ worth, I print it and rewrite it at the coffee shop the next morning. Once it 'sounds right,' (#5), I start over and write the next ten pages.
This blog is important in another way. When you're writing (your book, a year from now,) and you come down with writer’s block, just pour another shot of Sailor Jerry's in your coffee, go to your blog and start typing. It's where you go when you’re ‘Blocked,’ rather than doing something ruinous; ice cream, chocolate, shopping, surfing Ebay for shoes, dreaming about winning the PowerBall.
Bottom Line: You do this and you'll become a writer. It will change how you look at the world. "I can't wait to get this down on paper." You'll see people as characters, this would make a good story, how would I write that so my readers will feel just like I did? Regardless, fiction or non-fiction.
So you're writing. (Blogging).
You're reading. (Your favorite author).
You're studying your two books. (Taking notes).
You're on your way. This is your one year apprenticeship. The clock is ticking.
This blog will now post every few days. It will be my ideas, my thoughts, how I’m working out my problems, as I writing my next book, 'Muscles in Red Wine.'
Together we can get this done.
Later...
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