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I asked a number of established writers for one sentence tips that helped them in their writing careers.

Select the subject of your choice below.


  • Get Started

  • What to Write

  • Improve Your Writing

  • Keep up the Pace

  • Don't Stop Now!

  • Publication . . . or Rejection







    Tips to Get You Started

    • "There are many excellent books on the craft of writing. Read them!" Deborah Raney
    • "Read in the genre you wish to write." Eileen Key
    • "Buy books, loan from the library and subscribe to a writer's magazine and read, read and read some more." Beth Wehman "
    • "Find out about everything in the books and then take those and ask, ask and ask questions from every writer you can possibly find." Beth Wehman
    • Obtain a copy of Sally Stuart's Christian Writers' Market Guide. "Send manuscripts and queries based on the TIPS section." Louise Bergmann DuMont
    • "Write to Market i.e. find your market before you write your article or story and tailor your piece to their audience." Louise Bergmann DuMont
    • "Learn the market." Mary Connealy
    • "Subscribe to writing magazines and read books about the craft of writing." Yvonne Ortega
    • "Pray over your writing before you sit down to write." Rhonda Gibson
    • "Listen to God, then write your heart." Lena Nelson Dooley
    • "Set measurable writing goals and take steps to meet them." Marie DisBrow
    • "Read good writers. Study what makes them good, then practice and develop your own best writing so others will seek to emulate you. " Jan Kern
    • "Get comfortable--a place you enjoy is a place you will return to frequently." Linda Rondeau
    • "Ask around for an Accountability Partner, and set goals together." Shirley M. Corder

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    Tips on What to Write

    • "Build a resume. Get smaller things published in smaller venues. That will get your query letter a closer look." Mary Connealy
    • "If you can't think of anything new to write, spend your writing time sending out submissions of what you already have." Paula Hrbacek
    • "Enter contests. The money is worth it for the critiques you'll get." Mary Connealy
    • "Look for magazines or markets that take anecdotes. Learn to write short-short excerpts. You may even get paid for your effort." Shirley M. Corder

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    Tips on How to Improve

    • "Figure out what POV is and use it." Mary Connealy
    • "Find a writing buddy to critique your work and do the same for them; you'll improve by doing both." Cindy Dobroskay
    • "Get into a critique group. ACRW's on-line crit group has really helped me." Mary Connealy
    • Read your "work aloud to catch problems and missing words that are otherwise easy to overlook." Nancy Arant Williams
    • "Read your work aloud." Laurie Alice Eakes
    • "If you write or wish to write fiction, plan now to sign up for NaNoWriMo for next November. Even if you don't reach the target, you will learn so much." Shirley M. Corder

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    Tips on How to Keep up the Pace

    • "Writers write, not think about writing." Brandy S. Brow
    • "Talented writers are a dime a dozen. Talented, disciplined, persistent writers are a little harder to find." Sharon Dunn
    • "To cure writer's block, read the Writer's Market. Sometimes reading what the editors are looking for will spark your imagination." Paula Hrbacek
    • "Keep your nose to the grindstone; don't turn away from the plough to see what others are doing, or you will lose focus." Lenora Worth
    • "Natasha Kern, my agent, suggests the gorilla in the phone booth: "I must make a phone call ... but there is a gorilla in the phone booth ... but I must make a phone call ... but there is a gorilla in the phone booth ... but I must make a phone call ... [Help]your characters face their greatest fears -- a gorilla -- and be willing to get into that phone booth with it." Robin Lee Hatcher
    • "Dolly Parton-'I never stopped trying, and I never tried stopping.'" Paula Hrbacek
    • Make helpful friends - "Treat an editor (or publisher, or librarian, or bookstore clerk) to lunch to ask their opinion on the current market trends, their job and the writing industry (do NOT make a pitch)." Louise Bergmann DuMont
    • To avoid overload when studying writing technique, sift out what you don’t need based on what is relevant for where you are in your writing right now." Jan Kern
    • "Glance away from the screen frequently and focus on faraway objects." Shirley M. Corder
    • "Find a time-tracker that works for you. Take an hourly break and move around." Shirley M. Corder

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    Tips on Editing

    • "Write. Rewrite. Write some more." Marie DisBrow
    • "Spelling and Grammar DO count - edit your work carefully." Louise Bergmann DuMont
    • A good Dictionary / Thesaurus is essential. "I have a Dictionary/Thesaurus on disc that I got for Christmas one year. I can easily pull it up from my toolbar." Vicki L. Cato
    • "In order to be productive, writers need to be organized; but be careful not to organize so much that you cease to write." Jan Kern  
    • "Avoid excessive use of adjectives and adverbs--instead choose great nouns and verbs." Marie DisBrow
    • "Switch off that internal editor and keep writing. There's plenty of time to edit when you're finished. Stopping to correct as you go hinders the flow of words." Shirley M. Corder



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    Tips on Getting Published - and Rejected

    • "Getting published is mostly luck ... the harder you work, the luckier you get." Thomas Smith
    • "Look at rejections as proof that you're working, not as signs of failure." Marie DisBrow
    • "Keep sending new articles out, and you won't have time to grieve over the rejections." Shirley M. Corder

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