Writing Tips: Inspiration and Technique for Aspiring Authors

Know what the biggest obstacle is to finishing that novel you’ve always dreamed of writing? YOU! A million things are going on in your life that you have to deal with day after day after day–the hubby, the kids, the significant other, the job, errands, the blues, etc. And you can’t put a lot of that aside–or so you think. But I’m here to tell you that if you ever want to get that novel written, you have got to stick some writing time up there at the top of that list or it will never get done. Squeeze in a half hour or hour in the quiet, wee hours of the morning, during your lunch break, or at night after the kids are in bed.

Before you know it, you’ll have 25 pages, then 50, then 100, and by then, nothing will keep you away from it. So somehow, someway, right now, you’ve got to make it one of the top two or three priorities in your life–for a while at least. If it’s really important to you, you’ll find a way.

To help you get the writing juices revved up, I’ve listed a few web sites and books that are helpful. Whenever I have trouble getting myself going (yes, published authors have their moments, too), reading an inspirational or instructional book about writing helps.

Web Sites on Writing

African American Literature Book Club (www.aalbc.com). Great discussion boards, articles, and book reviews.

Black Writer’s Reunion and Conference (www.blackwriters.org). Once the web site of the African American Online Writers Guild, it is now the website for an annual conference for authors and aspiring authors. Next conference will be held June 20-21, 2008 in Tampa Florida. More than 30 workshops will be offered by accomplished authors on the craft of writing, the business of writing and writing careers and screenwriting.

Books on Writing

Writing is subjective in so many ways and taste in writing books often is also. I chose these books because they helped me. They have been around for a while but the words within are timeless.

Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work, by Bell Hooks. Most notable for women writers; covers a range of issues related to writing including the politics of publishing.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, by Natalie Goldberg. Spiritual and inspirational.

The Art and Craft of Novel Writing, by Oakley Hall. Old but if you like a more instructional (rather than inspirational) approach to learning, this may be the book for you; might be hard to find, try Amazon.

Got any writing tips? Feel free to share them with us.

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