1. Read. Otherwise, how will you know you haven’t written something what has already been done?
2. Cut, cut, cut. To keep or not to keep? To be or not to be? If you can live without that word, than the answer is not to keep.
3. Listen to the editor. Follow the publication’s guidelines. They exist for a reason. You may not understand these reasons yet, but why annoy an editor?
4. Check the checker. Let the computer spell-check the work first and then proofread it manually. Computers might be not very smart, but they have a mind of their own and are happy to create havoc with your manuscript if you let them.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague. Why write something that has already been beaten to death?
6. Bring new things into the world. Be creative so that they will publish and read you instead of Joe Shmoe or Jane Doe.
7. Be persistent. Submit your work for publication. Too many talented writers keep a heap of dusty manuscripts under their beds.
8. Start a new. Once you’ve sent your manuscript out, don’t bother the editor with requests for status. Write the next one.
9. Don’t despair. If the manuscript is rejected, edit it and send it to another publication.
10. Know when to quit. If the manuscript gets constant rejections, put it away. Your bestseller is waiting for you to be written, so why waste your time with a dud?
By vrflash | Published 04/22/2005
