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The Qualities that Make a Writer May 19, 2009

Posted by Diadem in : writeshop , comments closed

http://www.carolpsmith.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/cartoon_writer.jpgedfa Discipline. Very little gets written if the author waits for inspiration and makes no attempt to write regularly. It is important to keep what has been called the writing muscle in your mind in the flexible easy condition which is brought about by regular use. It is a very good idea to prepare yourself a timetable for writing and to stick to it.

Stamina. The idea of writing a book-length work may daunt you. However, if you write as little as 250 words on five days in each of fifty-two weeks you will have a 65,000 word book at the end of a year, and if you write a little more than 250 words and sometimes manage more than 5 days a week you’ll be finished that much sooner.

A love of words. English is a remarkably rich language, and you stand a much better chance of finding le mot juste than poor old Flaubert did, limited as he was to French. Playing with words until you find the ones which really express what you want to say is one of the great fun things in writing. 

Observation. Writers watch people and events and store away material which they can use later. Reading and re-reading to see how published authors have coped with their problems is another essential form of observation.

What you write is what you are! December 6, 2007

Posted by Diadem in : writeshop , 10comments

I never imagined myself that I can be a writer.

What is your ambition in life? This was always the question that I needed to answer every time me and my high school classmates were asked to introduce ourselves in class at the start of every new school year, or whenever I was asked to sign a slum book. Who hadn’t, especially if you were a “crush ng bayan (grrr)? Slum books were a fad during my high school days.writing

With butterflies in my stomach, I always told my classmates or write in slum books that I wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, movie director, or a flight stewardess. Never did I realize that I would be a development communicator.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t either be any of those because my parents lacked the financial resources to send me to a medical, law, or film school. And to my dismay, I could not be a flight stewardess because I am petite!

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