Upon completing your writing projects, what system do you have in place to keep a chronological record of your work? How do you annually evaluate where your writing niche is?

Consider using an Annual Writing Registry to help study your number of works created for the year, as well as your scope of genres. You can begin with any month for your yearly evaluation, but I found that the January to December time frame is easier.

When preparing an Annual Writing Registry divide it into three columns, containing the following trouble-free headings:

1. Name of Writing – Title of your composition

2. Writing Genre – The type of writing you created

3. Year Completed – The year your genre was completed (If you want to include the date, that is strictly your call.)

You could use more headings according to your degree and complexity of information, but these titles should be sufficient for starters. This registry will give you a perspective on your style and brand of writing. You will be able to obtain an overview of your writing niche(s).

When I began focusing on my writing development, novels were the initial target. Looking for long term and multiple dividends was not going to happen with writing one novel a year. I found that this approach was limited and definitely not the way to go for a novice. As I branched into writing poetry, articles and short stories, my creativity intensified. When diversifying your compositions, you give yourself options. Quite often we find ourselves working on monumental projects like a novel and think that smaller projects are too menial to waste time on. However, the quality and style of our smaller works can yield credibility and greatly affect the marketability of your larger projects.

The registry serves as a factual report to help you create leveraging while organizing your writing portfolio. Writing can develop into a variety of niches focusing on personal experiences that affect you spiritually, mentally, physically or emotionally.

Each piece of your writing could possibly inspire the creation of another composition. The Annual Writing Registry will help you increase marketing ideas and strategies for finding avenues to showcase your writing projects. If you only plan to write a novel or two for the year, you may not find this registry necessary or helpful. Nevertheless, if you are producing several niches of work for multiple submissions, then this would be an easy starting place for analyzing your completed work.

Popularity: 17% [?]

These days if you want to make money as a writer of genre fiction it seems you have to write a fantasy blockbuster. Everybody’s doing it. Never mind honing your craft with short story submissions or exploring the more original forms of the genre. Go where the money is!

But how can you write a fantasy blockbuster? It has to be difficult right? If it wasn’t difficult everybody would be doing it. It used to be, but not anymore. Follow my simple 6 step plan and soon you too will be churning out bestselling fantasy novels the size of a small forest.

Step 1: The Hero

All bestselling fantasy should have a teenage boy hero. No exceptions. Yes they’re whiny and inclined to do really stupid things, but a lot of the people buying your book will relate to them… (See Eragon by Christopher Paolini.)

If for some reason you insist on making your hero an adult or (god forbid) female, make sure that they are naive and remarkably ignorant of the world around them. That allows you to conveniently explain what everything is to reader in the guise of telling your hero. It will also excuse them when they do the same stupid things that a teenage boy would have done.

Step 2: The Villain

You can’t have epic fantasy without a villain. Villains are evil. They do evil things. They want to either destroy or rule the world. Your villain should be all-powerful because that’s just cool. Though he (and villains should always be male!) will have some remarkably obvious weakness that makes him vulnerable to teenage boys of a heroic persuasion.

Never, ever explain why your villain is so set on destroying/ruling the world. Explanations are for wusses. The Fount of All Evil does not explain. (See Lord Foul in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson).

If you must have a scene where The Fount of All Evil explains his actions, the correct answer is… Because. (See Mordant’s Need by Stephen Donaldson.)

Step 3: The Setting

Epic fantasy is set in the middle-ages with magic and very little mud. Do not diverge from this setting or you will confuse your readers who have come to expect this setting from the last 100 fantasy blockbusters they just read.

It is acceptable to have a number of non-human races in your book. These will be dwarves, elves, hobbits and orcs. Feel free to randomly change the names to keep things fresh.

If your inner artist forces you to get creative you can always spice things up by throwing in random modern equipment and using magic to explain its existence. (See the Shannara series by Terry Brooks.)

Step 4: The Plot

The Fount of All Evil is bent on destroying/ruling the world. Our hero must stop him. He will do this by traveling to all the locations conveniently written on the map in the front of the book (you must have a map, no exceptions). On the way our hero will collect a rag tag group of companions, culled conveniently from all the different races. (see The Belgariad by David Eddings.)

Don’t worry about personalities for these new characters, simply come up with 5 personality tics that can be inserted randomly whenever the character is in the chapter. This saves a lot of time and looks just like a real character. (See The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.)

Of course you need an excuse for all this travelling. I recommend a treasure hunt of some sort. Treasure hunts are always popular. Once they have gathered the Necklace of Doom (Sword of Despair, Destiny Gem etc. etc.) they will confront The Fount of All Evil. And win.

Once they have travelled to all the countries of the world, our hero must return home, in order to discover how much he has grown.

Step 5: The Ending That Doesn’t Conclude Anything

Once the hero (who may no longer be a teenager, but he’s still a boy!) has discovered how much he has grown, you need to drop the bombshell that actually the world has not been saved at all. Dealing with the Fount of All Evil has merely opened the door for a new (and naturally even worse) evil to enter. (See almost any book in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.)

Step 6: Write The Second (and Third and Fourth and Fifth) Book

This is the most important step of all. Simply repeat the previous 5 steps again and again and again until people finally catch on and start to accuse you of padding. At that point announce that the next three books will conclude the saga and start work on the prequels. (See, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan; The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind and A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin.)

Popularity: 21% [?]

Every person will have to write a research paper at some point in their lifetime. If you do not know the steps to writing a research paper, then it can become an overwhelming proposition. However if you know the steps to writing a research paper, then the task is not at all daunting. Breaking a research paper into small steps also allows you to focus on one part of the research paper at a time, which will translate into a much better finished product. Here are the steps needed to write a successful research paper:

Pick a Topic – The first step in writing a research paper is picking a topic. Make sure that you pick a topic that is interesting to you, and has plenty of information available about it.

Write a Thesis – A thesis can be defined as a dissertation advancing an original point of view as a result of research. Your thesis should be the main focal point of your research paper, and all the research that you gather for the paper should focus on this point.

Research – You should gather research that supports your thesis, and builds a case that your point of view is correct. As a rule of thumb I usually try to use is to gather at least half as many pages worth of notes than pages that I have to write.

Write an Outline- After gathering all of the research needed to write the paper the best thing to do next is write an outline. Writing an outline will help you to get your thoughts in order, and start to create the structure of your research paper.

Write a Rough Draft – Writing a rough draft is a great way to start to pour your ideas onto paper without worrying about everything being perfect. During this step you will want to write the introduction and conclusion paragraphs after writing all body paragraphs, because it makes them much easier to write this way.

Make Corrections/Changes – During the next step you will want to review your rough draft and make any changes or corrections before you write the final copy of your research paper.

Write a Final Copy – In the final step you implement all of the changes to transform you rough draft into a final copy. Once you are finished with this step you will want to reread your paper to check to make sure there are no spelling or grammatical errors, and that your research paper makes sense.

Popularity: 14% [?]

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“Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.” – J.C. Penney

Country recording artist Tim McGraw confided in an interview that there was a guy at a 7-11 that could sing him under a table. So, why is that guy serving up Slurpees while Tim is performing to packed stadiums?

The reason is the same for writers as it is for singers. There are many incredibly gifted writers who will never have a book published. The reasons are many, but it often comes down to their willingness to follow a dream or to shelve the dream for other reasons – some noble and some steeped in fear.

“The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible — and achieve it, generation after generation.” – Pearl S. Buck

There is something about the idea of writing without fear. The dreams we may have once had do not need to remain a simple reference point for ?what if’s’ and ?might’a beens’.

The good news about writing is that the more real-life experiences you have the more you may be able to relate. It is never too late to pick up a pen and began to compose something extraordinary.

Sometimes the only thing that will set you apart from a better writer is simply your willingness to write – then share it with others.

“Self-trust is the first secret of success.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The noble art of writing allows a wordsmith to venture into the hearts of humanity and welcome others to the exploration. Unlike certain other entertainment fields, becoming an author is something that can and is done at any age.

Success
Bessie Anderson Stanley

He has achieved success

who has lived well,

laughed often, and loved much;
who has enjoyed the trust of pure women,

the respect of intelligent men

and the love of little children;
who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
who has left the world better than he found it

whether by an improved poppy,

a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;
who has never lacked appreciation of Earth’s beauty

or failed to express it;
who has always looked for the best in others

and given them the best he had;
whose life was an inspiration;
whose memory a benediction.

Perhaps its time to dust off a dream.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Like most creative professions the question of a qualified success in writing is not easy to concentrate into one definitive answer.

Just as there are a multitude of writing styles, so too are there many examples of writing success.

Examples

1. “If I can just finish my first story, I will have success.”
2. “If I can just work up the courage to submit this to a publisher, I will have success.”
3. “If I can actually receive a check in the mail for a magazine article, I will have success.”
4. “If I can just publish my first book, I will have success.”
5. “If I can just have my book published by a major publisher, I will have success.”
6. “If I can just get my book in the bestseller list, I will have success.”
7. “If I can just keep up with all the writing work I have been commissioned to do, I will have success.”
8. “If I can only be thought of in the same way as other literary giants, I will have success.”

“The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have, and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach.” Lin Yu-t’ang

There is a difference between contentment and complacency. In the first case, we learn to be happy in the circumstances we find ourselves in. In the second case, you simply settle for where you are without an interest in doing something more.

“A man will never be content with what he wants until he is content with what he has.” – Bill Gothard

As writers we should always reach for our best. It is a good idea to set a small attainable goal for the short term with perhaps a one and six year plan in place for where we would like to be. This goal can be readjusted annually.

The problem many writers have is they set their goals so high they may not be able to reach them, or they make the goal sacrosanct they miss out on life in pursuit of the goal. Should they actually reach the goal, the effect of reaching the pinnacle often serves as a pin to pop an inflated balloon. For some, the ultimate goal they have chosen leaves them feeling hollow because they never understood the need for contentment. Once the ‘ultimate goal’ is realized the author has nothing more to look forward to and they struggle through issues related to their overall motivation.

By learning the fine art of contentment while refusing to be complacent will serve you well as you wrestle with issues of personal writing success.

Popularity: 11% [?]