Writing practice | how to improve your writing fast!

[@francineh.7825]

Was very interesting about the pottery experiment- makes sense! I don't currently practise writing but I am intrigued with the thought of now doing a 10 minute writing prompt in the mornings.

[@authortaraeast]

It's such an interesting study, right? I love the idea of writing for ten minutes in the morning and responding to prompts. It sounds like a nice addition to a morning routine!

[@TheMrsRobertson]

I love creating my own writing prompts. It's freeing to just write about anything and play with ideas and words without the pressure of completing the one perfect pot. Thank you for a great video!

[@authortaraeast]

Responding to writing prompts is a great way to practice your writing minus the pressure. I like to have a giant jar of prompts near my desk and then I pull one out as a warm-up before a longer writing session.

[@cavebird2]

Hi Tara, I like low stakes and remaining playful. Writing more stories of lesser quality sounds good to me. Fantasy writer Neil Gaiman advises budding writers to finish things. The more the better. But then I haven't finished writing many stories. I want to mention a few approaches that worked for me in the past. I would read my comics and think if I were to write a Spiderman story what would that be like? Or a Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman or Flash story? Most of my writing is more like watching little videos in my mind than actual writing. But a number of good scenes and story concepts came to me. I finished the Batman concept as a comic. Altered the costume an changed the name to Dreadman. When I thought about Superman I got intrigued by the Lois Lane character and the Flash turn into a good children's story. Strange how few superhero stories are about children. Pippi Longstocking is a good one. I also thought about popular comic book genres to some good results. The German expressionist painter Paul Klee would work on many paintings at the same time.-His garden of paintings. This helps getting unstuck. If one story of yours isn't going anywhere you can turn to another. I'm presently working on a dozen stories. Focusing on one in particular. But if I get stuck, it helps to think of one of the others. My current book has a dozen chapters that are in many way stories onto themselves. So I bounce around among those.

[@authortaraeast]

That sounds like a great approach and it's wonderful that you've found something that works for you.

[@AngelaKHarrell]

NEW SUBSCRIBER! Hi Tara, I am enjoying your videos; thank you so much for the info!! I'm so glad to see that I'm not crazy when I thought to myself: how in the world do you become a better writer without practicing? Maybe it's because I used to play three instruments when I was younger, or because I played field hockey and was a cheerleader but nothing seems to help you to become better at anything (even parenting) without practice. That being said, I feel so overwhelmed writing my first novel while trying to learn how to: write a novel (I get so stuck on the POV stuff); learn social media; submit short stories and poetry to literary magazines and journals; and apply to writing residencies (without crying over every rejection) that taking even more time to "practice my writing" just seems to be one more thing to add to the list (and slowing down my goal to finish the novel). I know 10 or 20 minutes don't feel like much but I'm a perfectionist. And that 10-20 minutes will eventually turn into 1-2 hours because I feel the need to finish something. It's just so hard. However, I wholeheartedly agree that practice makes perfect. QUESTION: Did you ever submit your short stories, novel excerpts, etc., to literary magazines/journals, and if so, do you have any best practices? I'm getting a bit tired of rejections (even though my goal is to not quit submitting until I've been rejected 1000 times). LOL Again, thanks for the video! I look forward to watching many more!

[@authortaraeast]

Hi Angela, Thank you for your rich comment and for sharing a bit about your experience with becoming a writer. I'm just realising now that I have never really spoken about the submission process here on the channel...maybe that can be a video I film in the new years. I do (often) pitch ideas to magazines and submit short stories to online markets. So, here's some tips: * Read the submission guidelines carefully and follow them perfectly * Keep your cover letter professional and concise * Make sure you are submitting your work to appropriate markets (i.e. check that they publish the type of content you are submitting to them) * Your work should be well-written and well-edited * Only submit to one market at a time (most markets don't accept simultaneous submissions) and keep track of who you submit to * Make a list of ten potential markets for your short story/article and submit to them one at a time * If you make it through the list with no acceptances, it is time to re-read and revise the piece (or write something new!!!) I hope that helps, for now. Best of luck! (A great website to find markets for short stories is Submission Grinder)

[@gussiefick2590]

I'm listening to Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones now. Her advice about writing practice is different from Julia Cameron's morning pages. I've never been able to do the morning pages--write three pages long hand each morning. Writing practice sounds doable. Natalie advocates writing by hand with a good pen. Do you write by hand when you practice? I'll experiment--try writing by hand and on the computer and alphasmart word processor to see which one works best for me. I want to practice different aspects of my writing that need improvement, for example character descriptions and interior monologue. Thanks for a great video!

[@authortaraeast]

People often confuse Julia Cameron's morning pages with Natalie Goldberg's writing practice, but they are *very* different. Personally, I prefer doing my writing practice with pen and paper. It feels looser and less serious and it's lovely to engage with storytelling in a more tactile way. Some studies have proven that we tend to be/think more creatively when we write by hand vs computer. For practical reasons though, I do write my first (and subsequent) drafts on computer as this makes revision so much easier. I do love to brainstorm by hand though!

[@md_al_mamun06]

👍👍👍👍❤❤❤❤

[@adarateranroldan]

I’ve been a one-pot writer for a while…

[@authortaraeast]

If that works for you, great! Though it can be fun to experiment with low-stakes writing exercises as a way to develop your craft--though it certainly isn't the only way!

[@adarateranroldan]

@@authortaraeast I’m ready to switch it up. Planning my next project in April 🤗