Ask the Smutlancer: One Thing a New Writer Needs to Know
There are a lot of things new (and established) writers need to know. Thanks to a questioned submitted to Ask the Smutlancer, we’re discussing just one of those things…the one that (to me) is most important. If you can do this, you’ll be farther ahead than most other sex writers and sex bloggers.
The Question
NortyNinja asks…
If you were to offer one piece of advice to a newbie writer what would that be?
The Answer…
The amount of advice and information out there for a new writer could drown a person. Frankly, I get overwhelmed by it all, and I feel fairly confident about this whole writing thing. Before you read every writing blog (even this one), put together the perfect website, and imagine your brilliant writing future, to me there’s one thing to know/do/get used to.
You’re not going to be as good as you want to be at first, but you still have to write.
The only way you achieve any of your writing goals – getting published, growing an audience, making money, getting better at writing – is to do the simplest and most difficult thing: show up and write.
In your mind, you’re going to suck. You’ll hate that the words don’t always flow…or the ideas. Sometimes it’ll feel like an absolute slog, and you’ll wonder what the hell you’re doing. When someone compliments your writing, you’ll wonder if they’ve lost their minds.
When you go online, you’ll see someone writing the same topic as you…but better. They’ll have more followers, more blog posts, and more accomplishments.
You’ll question what the hell you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
Write anyway.
Write until it becomes habit. Do it until you can’t imagine not doing it. Write and write and write and write. Publish or don’t publish. Put it out publicly or don’t (although, there’s a lot to be said for it). But show up and write.
Putting in the effort will get you much further than having a beautiful website or perfect SEO…in the long run.
Write when you don’t feel like it and write when you do. Tell the stories that beat at the edges of your brain and the stories that scare the hell out of you. Write the things you don’t think you should write and the things you can’t not write.
Just. Write.
Gotta question you’d like to ask? Ask the Smutlancer and it may be a blog post or podcast topic in the future!
