Guest Post: You Can be All That AND More!

Hey Blogger Buds,
Last year, I sent out a call for guest posts. Lindsey, one of my awesome interweb friends, responded. I didn't have time to schedule posts last year, so here we are! I commented in red. For fun, my comments are in a Southern accent.

Hi everyone. Riv was asking for guest bloggers, and she agreed to let me be one of them for you. ("Agreed"? The pleasure is mine, hon.)
I am talking about becoming a better writer in this post. What I say is not the words you should live by. What I say is simply advice and so forth from me, a writer who is seeking to get her work published, as I am sure some of you are trying to do.

How can I be better? You might already feel that you are a good writer, or maybe others tell you, "Your story is amazing! This should be published." You can already be a talented writer and still more. When you are an unpublished author this especially applies to you. (*pricks up ears*)
The fact of the matter is that you can always improve. Think about those times you have looked back ay your older projects. Whether you meant to or not, you were probably editing them as you read and your jaw was hanging open. (*nods at sage advice*) Okay, maybe your jaw hanging open is a little over dramatic, but we all know that our older projects are nothing like our new ones. That is because we improve our projects as we continue to write more and learn more about what is good and what is ugly in a manuscript.
I think one of the best ways to improve yourself as a writer is to try to find time to write most every day. Even if you just write in a journal, it's still something. I once heard from an anonymous published author that she would write something before going back to her main project she was working on. I have found that this technique is rather helpful. I've mostly been doing short stories while working on novels, but sometimes it is hard to work on both with the same amount of time and effort.

Another way to improve yourself is to constantly look back over your work and, yes, edit it through. We all know we've edited our main project many times over and over again, but until that manuscript is published; the least you can do is keep re-editing it. You can even post your work somewhere (suggestion: inkpop.com) or have a friend read it and ask others to edit your work. Editing is sometimes annoying because you do it so many times, but it is getting your project(s) somewhere.
It's not bad to have this high self esteem about the work you do, but do not let that esteem take over your whole mind and your projects to the point where you're going, "Eh, I really don't have to anything else because my last chapter was so good." Ever part in your story is important, and in the end it is all of those parts put together that makes the novel all that it is and makes you, the writer, all that you can be.
You can be a good writer. You can be a greater writer. Writers, you can still be more. Do not be afraid to be more than all that you already are. (I think I can! I think I can!)
I hope that this post helped some of you out, and if not then I guess this was just a long post of me rambling on. (Never, Lindsey. We adore your rambles.) If you dare to hear more of my rambling about writing, you can follow me on my blog: http://lrenees-fictionalwriter.blogspot.com/ (Y'all have my personal recommendation to follow Lindsey. She's a doll.)


When you write... you can write magic.

Happy writing,
LReneeS

*claps* Thanks for the amazing post, Lindsey!