You must be prepared to work always without applause. – Ernest Hemingway

Much of the wisdom available from established authors may be surprising in it’s honesty and straightforward nature. The reason this is likely true is the authors in question have had enough success that there is no need to candy coat the truths they have discovered in their experience. This is the final article in this series.

On Learning the Art of Writing

I learned to write by listening to people talk. I still feel that the best of my writing comes from having heard rather than having read. – Gayl Jones

You have to protect your writing time. You have to protect it to the death. – William Goldman

By writing much, one learns to write well. – Robert Southey

To produce a mighty work, you must choose a mighty theme. – Herman Melville

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader. – Robert Frost

A writer’s job is to imagine everything so personally that the fiction is as vivid as memories. – John Irving

Plot springs from character…. I’ve always sort of believed that these people inside me — these characters — know who they are and what they’re about and what happens, and they need me to help get it down on paper because they don’t type. – Anne Lamott

In your writing, be strong, defiant, forbearing. Have a point to make and write to it. Dare to say what you want most to say, and say it as plainly as you can. Whether or not you write well, write bravely. – Bill Stout

Whenever you write, whatever you write, never make the mistake of assuming the audience is any less intelligent than you are. – Rod Serling

If the stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. – Barry Lopez

Write about it by day, and dream about it by night. – E. B. White

Any writer overwhelmingly honest about pleasing himself is almost sure to please others. – Marianne Moore

On Humor

When in doubt have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand. – Raymond Chandler

The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it. – Mark Twain

On Naming Your Work

A good title should be like a good metaphor. It should intrigue without being too baffling or too obvious. – Walker Percy

The title to a work of writing is like a house’s front porch…. It should invite you to come on in. – Angela Giles Klocke

I hope you catch the sense that successful authors draw from the real stuff of life, keep things simple and well told. If you look closely, these authors keep a sense of humor about them and remain personable. These are admirable lessons to consider in your writing journey.

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Technorati Tags: Children's Writing, writing

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One of the ways many writers can successfully add credentials to their portfolio if to participate in a variety of literary contests. This type of contest encourages writers to put their best foot forward in both creativity and attention to detail.

It is true that there are some contests that provide a cash award for their top finishers, but there are also publishing scams that will accept your work regardless of quality. When you receive notice that your work has been accepted for publication it can be a real boost, however, a quick look at many writer’s websites can help you define the contests that are essentially vanity publishers willing to print just about anything if they believe you will purchase copies of the book for friends and family.

Many cash award writing contests cover the cost of prize awards by charging an entry fee. This factor often discourages many writers who may not feel confident enough in their writing to pay a fee to submit. This allows those who do enter a better chance at placing.

There are also writing contests that present the opportunity to have their work published online, in a magazine or in an anthology. As a rule this type of contest does not require a purchase of the publication the work will appear in nor will they assume full rights of your work. The best writing contests only require a one time non-exclusive print right. This is important because it allows you the opportunity to sell or place the work in other venues.

Beware of forfeiting full (exclusive) rights in any writing contest. When this right is given the ownership of the work is no longer yours. You will have no right to use the material in any form without permission from the publisher. It is possible to pay to enter a contest, forfeit the rights to your work and allow a publisher to gain long-term financial benefit from your work.

Quality writing contests have the bonus feature of allowing you to fine tune your skills by reading the work of others. Reading can make a good writer even better. If you pay attention you can learn what works and what doesn’t while using writing contests as a means of gaining valuable insight into unique styles and structure.

On a positive note, there have been numerous incidents in which individuals who entered a submission for a writing contest were able to use that same work for publishing in other book anthologies and magazines. The key is making sure to participate in writing contests that preserve your right to control the reuse of the piece.

Popularity: 75% [?]

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Grief is not always sad and depressing, but can be inspiring and encouraging. Everyone deals with grief differently. Writing is an avenue through which healing begins. Something inside is unleashed, as a creative literary embryo develops and is born. This newborn combines tear jerking memories and a dash of optimism to turn melancholy into joy and productivity.

After tragic events like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Hiroshima, The Tsunami of 2004, The Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion of 1986 and The Vietnam War, many novels and documentaries were born. Despite these single disasters, so many eclectic, emotionally charged voices were heard through the written word.

Your “best seller” doesn’t have to be a novel, but can be an essay, article, poem or a piece of writing so compelling, that others are sold by your sheer poetics. Some of the positive attributes that therapeutic writing invokes, but are not limited to, includes:

1. Creating documented history with frequent and better journaling

2. Unleashing your creative juices by writing personal unedited emotions

3. Your story can help others get through their grief period.

4. Writing will make you sit down and slow down

5. Helping you realize the importance of spending quality time with those you love

6. Never take a person or situation for granted, including you.

7. Bringing closure to a grief stricken circumstance

Prior to my mother’s death, the joy of personal, developmental writing took a back seat to the writing projects for my career. After my mother was buried and everyone returned home, I dove back into my job thinking that staying busy was the best remedy for me. How very wrong I was. As I began journaling about the pain of loosing my mother, the quality and quantity of my writing increased. You have the ability to turn an apparently debilitating situation around, after experiencing some form of loss and grief, such as:

? A divorce or major breakup of a relationship

? Loosing someone you love through death, disappearance or abandonment

? Finding out that you or someone very close to you has been diagnosed with a terminal illness

? Surviving a natural disaster or an unexpected occurrence

? Loosing a job after years of dedicated work

Journaling or simply picking up a notebook and pen, then candidly begin writing down your struggles, memories, anger, joys, the pain of your loss, or any epiphany, can evoke the healing process. Writing out your emotionally charged grief, may not be shared respectfully by many, but there will be a considerable amount of your reading audience who will applaud your willingness to share something so personal that probably inspired them to do the same.

Although writing can possibly bring closure to a grief stricken situation, this doesn’t mean that you will forget. The words won’t let you. As the final chapter of a novel brings closure to the book, you certainly won’t forget the story. Once you close the book and put it on the shelf with other classics, you move on to the next book with a new set of chapters yet to be lived. Where there is no closure, the wound remains open. This metaphor compares to the scenario of the last few pages of a novel being ripped out, leaving you to wonder what the end would be.

Read some classical literary compositions and notice how they were written with life experiencing emotion, good and bad, drawing you into the story. Whether the author’s sentiment was personal or one they lived through someone else, you travel with them to a time and place where the journey meanders through an unpredictable path.

If you’re writing fiction, changing real character names to protect the innocent, relocating a venue or placing the time in another era, can still allow reality and emotion to permeate through your pages. Who knows where therapeutic writing can take you? So many wonderful and positive projects, as well as healing, can bloom from just one grieving experience.

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One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment. – Hart Crane

Some of the best advice for writers in the 21st century comes from those who have seen their successes and offer advice from their own experience. Let’s draw from that brain trust.

On Writing Well

Show don’t tell. – Henry James

Don’t say the old lady screamed — bring her on and let her scream. – Mark Twain

Cut out all those exclamation marks. An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke. – F. Scott Fitzgerald

First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about. – Bernard Malamud

Usually, when people get to the end of a chapter, they close the book and go to sleep. I deliberately write a book so when the reader gets to the end of the chapter, he or she must turn one more page. When people tell me I’ve kept them up all night, I feel like I’ve succeeded. – Sidney Sheldon

Don’t mistake a good setup for a satisfying conclusion — many beginning writers end their stories when the real story is just ready to begin. – Stanley Schmidt

On Inspiration

Nighttime is really the best time to work. All the ideas are there to be yours because everyone else is asleep. – Catherine O’Hara

I know writers who write only when inspiration comes. How would Isaac Stern play if he played the violin only when he felt like it? He would be lousy. – Madeleine L’Engle

If you wait for inspiration, you’re not a writer, but a waiter. – Anonymous

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. – Jack London

The best way to become a successful writer is to read good writing, remember it, and then forget where you remember it from. – Gene Fowler

Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. – William Faulkner

The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes. – Agatha Christie

So this is always the key: you have to write the book you love, the book that’s alive in your heart. That’s the one you have to write. – Lurleen McDaniel

In the second part in this series we will look at a few words of wisdom from authors regarding writer’s Block, motivation and editing skills.

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The most valuable of talents is never using two words when one will do. – Thomas Jefferson

There are many books that provide tips and guidance for publishing success. This series of articles takes you directly to a trusted source of wisdom – established authors. The hope is the experiences they have encountered will assist you in your writing objectives.

On Editing

There is but one art, to omit! – Robert Louis Stevenson

A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. – William Strunk, Jr., from The Elements of Style

My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip. – Elmore Leonard

The great art of writing is knowing when to stop. – Josh Billings

As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out. — Mark Twain

When rewriting, move quickly. It’s a little like cutting your own hair. – Robert Stone

Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light. – Joseph Pulitzer

On Writer’s Block

If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise: attack it an hour when it isn’t expecting it. – H. G. Wells

On Motivation

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. – Cyril Connolly

The most original thing a writer can do is write like himself. It is also the most difficult task. – Robertson Davies

If you wish to be a writer, write. – Epictetus

Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential. – Jessamyn West

You write about the thing that sank its teeth into you and wouldn’t let go. – Paul West

On Humility

Young writers should be encouraged to write, and discouraged from thinking they are writers. – Wallace Stegner

In the third and final part in this series we will look at a few words of wisdom from authors on the naming of your work, learning from the success and failure of other writers and the inner struggles authors often face.

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