Okay y’all, I’ve been writing consistently since August 2016 so I’ll share some of the knowledge I’ve gained on my journey.

1. Write For Yourself  – This is said over and over but I seen a post on Twitter summing it up well. He explained that he had been writing for 20 odd years and through all those years the best advise he gained was writing for yourself.

It means writing about what you feel passionate about, something that’s bothering you, weighing on your mind, something YOU enjoy. We all want an audience, for our work to be read and appreciated and for it impact others but it also can be a big hinderance constantly thinking about whether the reader is liking it.

Seeking out praise, concerned with criticism, writing what you think a certain audience will or won’t like will affect your writing and creativity, inevitably stunting it and putting yourself in a mental cage. Sure we all want to be number one on Google’s SEO’s and even make money but if that is our main focus we end up writing for numbers and everyone else, following the trends constantly, becoming like sheep and generic. You can’t please everyone and if you try you’ll only be restricting yourself because we live in a very fickle world today, they might like you today and hate you tomorrow over an opinion.

When I write for myself, whatever is playing on my mind I let it all out and once it’s done I don’t think about it anymore, it’s out of my system, it’s therapy. People may not like it, read it but I like it and it’s helped and benefitted me first.

2. Enjoy It – Like anything if you’re going to do this whole writing thing you need to enjoy it. I’ve set myself targets because I want to achieve something and it can be stress and pressure that I’ve laid on myself but I’ve realised when I’m not writing I’m missing it. I have all these ideas and I look forward to putting it to paper, it’s benefitted my mindset and mental health.

If you don’t enjoy it don’t do it, find something else where you can be creative producing and adding value to the world. There are so many people today thanks to the internet doing start-ups and being creative. Some of the sisters do Islamic geometry on Twitter, I find it nice to look at but it doesn’t interest me in the slightest to create something like that. But we need people in all different fields to be strong.

So have fun with it and don’t concern yourself too much with word count or having to write daily to be an “expert” said by the “experts” or that this can’t be a blog, book or such and such format.

Find your groove when you best find time to write. Also where in a coffee shop, library in the home, in your office, bedroom. The time, morning, evening and length of time. I don’t write for lengthy periods one/two hours max, I write lots of notes and then go back and edit. I like to be fresh when I’m writing too long I become stagnated and need to stop and look at it again with fresh eyes. After I’ve done chores and sorted the kids and nothing else is nagging on my mind I sit down and write. Grab a coffee, snack, drink, something sustainable.

3. Read and Study it  – Whenever I do something I want to become proficient at it. I studied English Language in school and college and enjoy understanding the language and use of words.

Reading is one of the best ways to become a better writer. Read books excessively all different genres to learn and to gain. Reading is endless knowledge that will always benefit you. It makes you smarter, broadens your horizon, it helps with ideas and inspiration. Expand your use of words and vocabulary, I used to read the dictionary a lot and recommend you to do so.

Follow other writers on social media and learn different techniques, my writing has come along way since I’ve started, keep writing and practising to better understand the world of words.

4. Benefit Others Make Money Formula – 2 great rewards you can get from writing is benefitting others and making money from your craft. And how do I do that? It sounds simple in concept but we have to actualize it. You have to write something that will benefits others.

I’m currently reading how to win friends and influence people I will write a review. It’s a fantastic book the running theme in the book about making money is that people are always thinking about themselves when it comes to purchasing. How will this benefit me, will it benefit me make my life better, easier. So we have to write something that will be of benefit to others. Now you have to come up with the ideas. There’s many areas self-help, fiction, romance, fitness whatever it may be keep firmly in your mind when wanting to sell it’s not about you, it’s about me or them, right.

5. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF  – People love confidence and confident people. They believe in people that believe in themselves why? Energy, being around people with good energy, high energy, it makes us gravitate towards them. We want that, it makes us feel happy, positive, good, that tasks are achievable you feel motivated, it releases the good chemicals from our brains into our bodies and affects our mood and day. Confidence comes with familiarity. familiarise yourself with writing, immerse yourself, gain experience.

Have a discipline in your point of view in the world so people will be compelled to read you. It means persistence which trumps talent. There are millions of people in the world there are going to be plenty that enjoy your unique perspective.

You gotta want it as much as you want to breathe. 

The product has to be good, the writing has to be good.

Til next time, good luck and God speed.

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