Victoria KimbleA writer is actually quite a busy person. And I don’t mean busy staring at a screen all day. Well, maybe, but not always in the way you’d expect. Sure, they have to put in serious amounts of time typing out their stories and pouring over them as they edit and rewrite. But they also have to find time to learn.
Sometimes it’s hard to set aside what precious little time you may have to write to learn about writing. But if you are continually learning, then you will become a better writer over time. It’s your quality pieces that will sell or get the most readers, and quality is what we’re after.
There are so many ways to learn about writing. I suggest trying them all! Maybe not all at once, but learning from a variety of sources will round out your skills.
Writing Blogs and Articles
We at the Storyteller Squad are not the only ones out there to give writing tips. You could simply do a search on any writing topic and find thousands of articles. However, if that’s overwhelming, you could try these two blogs:
Helping Writers Become Authors – Author K.M. Weiland is excellent at coaching authors in the craft of writing. I’ve bought several of her books on writing, and used one of them to help me outline my Work In Progress, The Hurricane Keeper.
well-storied.com – Author Kristen Kieffer gives helpful tips in bite-sized portions, so they are easy to understand and apply to your writing.
*Bonus: both of these sites also have podcasts, if you’d rather listen to their tips while you do other things.
Books
It’s so secret that there are many excellent writing books out there. Besides any book by either of the authors who I mentioned above, I can recommend Writing Deep Scenes by Martha Alderson and Jordan Rosenfeld.
Conferences
Attending a conference is a great way to learn. Not only do you get to sit in keynote sessions and workshops with actual professionals, but you also get to hang out with other writers and spend whole days talking about writing. Many of the writing conferences often have whole workshops or afternoons dedicated to teen writers too. Do a search in your area to see what conferences are happening this year. If you live in Colorado, I’d love to see you at the Writers on the Rock Conference in Lakewood on February 22, 2020. There are still some spots left, so jump on in!
Keep learning, my friend! It will only make you a better writer.
Do you need any more writing book recommendations? There were too many to list, so shoot us a comment and we’ll be happy to mention some more!
Julia N. White
Misha
Laurie Germaine
I think the only thing I really struggle with is coming up with ideas for my books.
This is one of my favorite parts of writing! Many people have written articles about brainstorming story ideas. There are even online courses you can take. And you’ve just given me my idea for my next Writing Tip Wednesday post. 😉
So true. We never stop learning.
So true, Victoria, writers need to be always learning. I’m thankful for all the resources offered on the internet, but it’s also hard to sort through and find the best blogs. Thanks for sharing a couple of your favorites.