Comments on: 7 Reasons You’ve Failed As A Writer

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:24:32 +0000

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By: swfreeman

swfreeman — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:38:44 +0000

Paul,

I think every writer's computer probably looks like yours, full of ideas and partly finished stories. It's important to finish something once you start, unless it's going absolutely nowhere. In that case, it's sometimes better to merge a few ideas into one, or trash something and start on the same idea from the beginning. But yes, I agree, it's important to finish!

Thanks for commenting

By: Paul Kaiser

Paul Kaiser — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:12:06 +0000

Finish, finish, finish! My computer holds scads of promising ideas and stories 90% done. Finishing a story means you can't tell a critic, "Oh, I'm still working on that part," whether it's another person or your own internal critic. On the other hand, starting a new story opens up a whole new world with seemingly endless possibilities, where you can say "I'm gonna…" and "this will be like…" but you've made no commitments. You can wallow in possibilities your whole life, but you won't taste victory until you finish!

By: swfreeman

swfreeman — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:13:31 +0000

Walter,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, reading is one of the most important activities a writer can do, aside from writing, of course!

By: Walter

Walter — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:17:33 +0000

I like the part of taking time to read. I've realized this important fact few year ago when I've dreamed of becoming a writer. Aside from gaining wisdom from reading, it will improve your approach to semantics and it's a rich source of ideas.

By: swfreeman

swfreeman — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:28:07 +0000

Thank you, Larry! See, you're nicer than you think You're welcome to 'self-serve' here any time!

It's true though, there are real similarities between the content and style of our writing advice. Thanks for your encouragement.

By: Larry

Larry — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:04:18 +0000

Suzzannah — once again, we are SO on the same page. Even stylistically. All I can say to your readers is… ditto. Stay here, read everything Suzannah writes. And if that smacks of self-serving, I guess it is, since we view this avocation almost exactly the same way. She's just nicer than I am.

Larry @ http://www.storyfix.com

By: swfreeman

swfreeman — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:08:11 +0000

Hi Kristy,
I've read Stephen King's "On Writing" too and loved it. He puts things in such a practical and simple way. Four to six hours a day reading a writing is probably accurate if you're serious about it, but I think you need to build up to that. Most people still have other responsibilities that are non-negotiable, so it's more about compromising on the unnecessary things like watching t.v., fiddling on Facebook, etc. If you can build up to King's recommendation, you're going to see results much faster. Thanks