Join writing groups.
Even online ones. It’s important to stay active and engage with other writers. Writing can be a lonely profession, and it’s good to have the support of like-minded people around you. Remember to find your tribe, engage with them, and love what they contribute to your writing. It always feels great to have people in your corner who understand your woes as a writer.
Take writing classes.
There are many free classes out there online but here’s a bit of advice: if you’re an experienced writer, use them only to challenge yourself. Why? Because you get what you pay for. If you’ve written only a few pieces or consider yourself a beginning writer, try these out and gain some practice. Just remember that if you want to challenge yourself, it may be more beneficial for you to enroll in the intermediate level of a free course so that you come away feeling like you’ve learned more.
The same applies if you consider yourself an intermediate writer. If it’s a free writing course, then be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and enter expert-level classes. And apply the exercises to the current manuscript you’re working on. That way, you’re still making progress on your book. The goal is to test your limits as a writer while taking your writing to the next level.
Jot down notes.
Keep a record of thoughts that pop up in your imagination throughout the day in a notebook that you always keep with you. Writing is merely a collection of thoughts, and it’s good to get into the habit of recording them. Challenge yourself to do it for 30 days. Just write down every thought and idea. Any flashes of dialogue, any visions of story scenes you see in your head, or maybe you see yourself at a podium giving a speech and some really insightful words are coming out of your mouth. Write those things down. Don’t go back and read the things you’ve already written until the 30 days is up – just keep writing your thoughts every day. Don’t go back and re-read anything you’ve previously written; just keep moving forward to the next page. When you revisit the notebook after 30 days, you’ll be surprised at how much content you’ve accumulated by consistently doing a little bit every day.
Study the dictionary and thesaurus.
I don’t mean Googling random words on your Smartphone and scanning the definitions. You’ve got to actually pull out a dictionary and thesaurus and dedicate at least 15-20 minutes a day toward expanding your vocabulary. Write down the words and definitions. I know it sounds dreadful, but after trying it for myself, I finally understand why our teachers used to make us do it in school. Reading the word, writing it and the definition down, and then saying the word in a relevant sentence really does ingrain that information into our brains.
I personally like to start with the thesaurus. I’ll go through my old writings and locate words that I tends to use repeatedly, then look up synonyms for them. If one of the synonyms is a word that’s foreign to me, then I’ll look it up in the dictionary, write down the word and definition, and then try to use that word at least once during the day.
READ!
The most important thing you can do to keep your writing sharp is read. Read as much as you possibly can. Substitute television for reading. If you absolutely can’t live without your TV, then have it playing low sound in the background while you read. While it’s not great, I know the practice isn’t that bad because I used to do it as a kid. I remember devouring book after book as Nickelodeon and TNT cartoons played in the background.
Seriously, reading has a major effect on your writing. The more you read, the better your writing becomes. The more you challenge yourself in your reading and step into new genres and expose yourself to the varying writing styles of talented writers, you’ll find your own style and writer’s voice growing more distinguished and sophisticated.
What are your thoughts? What tips and tricks do you use to keep your writing sharp? Sound off in the comments and be sure to share your thoughts.
