When Writer's Craft started at the beginning of second semester last year I was very new to the world of writing. I may still be new to this great new world, but I feel I have progressed a great deal since that first day. I am making this thread to try to explain how I have progressed to where I am today so perhaps I can persuade potential writers to keep honing there skills. The most important thing is practice! I have been told this by so many people for some many different tasks, but it stays true to the saying, "Practice makes perfect." This site is a great place to practice, Write your heart out, post it, ( after critiquing two pieces yourself ) learn from your critics and improve your work, post it again, and repeat. Keep a Journal, this goes with rule number one. Writing daily allows you practice and what easier and greater way than a journal? You can set up your Journal however you like and that freedom ultimately allows you to try different writing styles and to improve current ones. There are many other uses for a journal, but I think that is the most important for now. Allow yourself to honestly listen to what others think and speak honestly about what you read. When you read a piece of writing, you should not try to sugar coat you response, honesty helps others improve, just try not be rude. When someone is telling you what they think about you piece you should keep an open mind, maybe there are right, maybe they are wrong, but you need to take your critic's seriously. If you have trouble with a certain aspect of writing ask for help. That is what this site is here for. For example if you have trouble spelling, ( like I do ) Take what you write daily ( a Journal in my case ) and take the misspelled words and make a list than use a site like writingcity and practice them. Do not be afraid to express yourself! When I first started writing I was afraid what others would think when they found out I like to write poetry. I think this fear is common among young writers, so my advice is don't give up, keep writing your heart out! That is all I can think off for now, keep practicing and don't be afraid to express yourself.
what/where is 'writer's craft'? that's all good advice, except for #2, imo... it shouldn't be presented as a 'must' since it's not really a requisite to learning how to write for publication... while many may like keeping a journal, many others do not... and the time spent writing for oneself can often become a hindrance/procrastination to writing what's meant for others to read...
Good tips. I agree with Mammamaia on number two though. I have never been one to keep a journal. I've only recently begun blog to track my rise to full-time fiction writer. It's not really a practice in writing, although of course all writing does give you practice.
Brandon, First I would like to congratulate you on your drastic improvement in spelling I can see you have been working on that. As for writing journals, I think blogging is a great way to do it. You may write only about your personal life but you'll be surprise that many people do like to read it.
