Read on for some excellent advice from Rosa Sophia–and a giveaway!
Ten Things You Should Know If You Want To Be An Author
By Rosa Sophia
One: Patience is key. If you aren’t patient with yourself, patient with your growth as a writer, and patient when it comes to waiting for publishers, agents, or editors to get back to you, then you need to learn patience. Patience will get you much further in life than being hasty.
Two: Writing is not easy. Someone who is dedicated to their craft needs to constantly work on improving it.
Three: Always look at your work with a critical, yet loving eye. What can you change? What can you improve?
Four: Just because you’ve finished a book, doesn’t mean it’s finished with you. You just wrote a first draft. That’s wonderful, but now it’s time for revisions. Revisions are often more difficult than writing the first draft.
Five: Never submit your first draft to a publisher. Go through it and edit it yourself at least three or four times. More is better. You will be glad you did.
Six: Getting lots of rejection letters? Instead of giving up, look for weaknesses in your query letter or cover letter, or even in your submission itself. Look for weaknesses in your submission package as a whole. Have trusted friends look over your submission package, or show it to your writing group. They might see something you aren’t seeing because you’re too close to the work.
Seven: Learn to accept criticism. When someone points out the weaknesses in your work, accept it, and endeavor to improve your writing.
Eight: Be humble. This goes back to accepting criticism. Nothing is ever perfect, and that’s okay. When someone criticizes your work, don’t attack them. And don’t let negative thinking stop you from writing. Just move on, learn where you need to improve, and work on those weaknesses.
Nine: Selling books is not easy. If you are becoming a writer to make money, you’re in the wrong industry.
Ten: Write for the love of writing. Hard work pays off. If you love what you’re doing, then keep doing it. That’s an important life lesson. In general, life is too short to spend it on something you don’t enjoy doing.
About the Author:
Rosa Sophia is a novelist and full-time editorial consultant. With a degree in Automotive Technology, she adores writing and editing as well as fixing cars. Rosa is also a crazy cat lady in training, and currently divides her time between South Florida and Pennsylvania
Author Links:
Website | Goodreads | Amazon | Facebook
