A lot of people love the idea of becoming a writer – and why not. It’s satisfying, stimulating, fulfilling, fun, and every day is different.
When you tell people this, you often spot a twinkle of excitement in their eyes. “I’m going to have a go too!” they tell you, and you smile, and try to gently steer them towards a correspondence course, or journalism course, or a good book about writing for publication, or just explain a few ground rules of the game.
But when they start to lose interest in what you’re advising, and they go “Yeah, yeah” a bit but not really mean it, and then enthuse about the column they’re going to send off to the editor of the Times tomorrow, you know you’ve got a DIYer on your hands.
You can’t Do It Yourself in this business. There’s no shame at all in thinking you can – but you really, really can’t.
Here are some of the people you might need: fellow new writers, journalists, authors, editors, press officers, librarians, members of the public, spokespeople, experts, professionals.
Here are some of the reasons why you need them: support, feedback, opinion, information, knowledge, expertise, quotes, guidance, tips.
Writing is a team sport. Every day I get advice from other journalists, facts and viewpoints from health experts, key information from books written by knowledgeable authors…
As you progress, you’ll discover who you need and what you need from them, and I hope one of the resources you come to find indispensable is this, the Mistakes Writers Make blog.
Onwards!
I feel certain this is going to be a great resource for non-fiction writers.
Lorraine
Tutoring is a team effort too!
Good luck with the blog.
Thanks for your support, guys!
So helpful Alex, thank you. I'm new and probably guilty of a few of these.
"writing is a team sport" has left me cold. I do know this but I'm new and would like to stay in my reclusive bubble for as long as possible before being forced to venture out and actually speak to people. It's amazing how long one can maintain denial, so thanks (I think) for the shove.
Just found your blog and know I'll be popping back regularly.
You sent me a link to your blog ages ago and I was on such a downer about my writing course I didn't look at your blog (sorry!). It's brilliant – thanks for starting this.
You're welcome – sorry it took me so long to find your comment in spam! Always nice to come back to a long-ago-posted blog!
I just started last week and I am discovering a whole new ball park as far as writing talents. This is the perfect place for me to start my craft.
Nice to have you here, Diane!
[…] Writers talk. To each other, to experts, to members of the public. To themselves. (“Just me? No, Alex, not just you.”) For all the reasons I mentioned in Mistake No. 1. […]