How to Become a Writer

Everyone wants to know how to become a paid writer. Here are some simple and effective steps to help you along the way.

Things You'll Need

• ideas
• opinions
• reading materials: books, magazines, newspapers, online newsletters, zines, blog subscriptions and a library card.
• a unique style or voice for your writing, point of view or personal narrative
• Personal Computer with Word Processing Software and Internet Access (at least it's not a type-writer)
• pens and paper, journals or PDAs to jot down article topics on the go.
• patience
• determination and persistence
• willingness to learn and change with popular trends and technologies

Instructions

How To Become A Writer

1. Read, absorb, and seek out new information from any source you can. Read blogs, television, rent films, read newspapers, listen to music, flip gossip mags or even read cereal box labels. Strive to widen your media view outside of your normal routine. This is essential as professional writers are highly competitive, educated and informed individuals. The more you have read and/or seen will prove useful later on in your career in your ability to draw inferences from seemingly un-related topics to illustrate your point.

2. Keep a personal journal or diary as a way to work on your craft. Many online journals help new writers by having them answer life-related questions or post articles on current events daily to integrate writing into your daily routine. Reproducing and formatting the events of your day will help you to reinforce your narrative voice and help you to have a visual reference to refer to as you are searching for your particular style or voice in your writing.

3. In the publishing world everybody pays their dues one way or another. It takes time. Do not be discouraged by low paying gigs, exposure is exposure as long as it is quality work. There are plenty of great websites than can help you perfect your skills and bring you up to date about what companies are looking for. It is a learning process, and remember the worst thing they can say is "no".

4. Write about what you love. If you have to take occasional jobs that don't interest you, at least try and make them unique and entertaining to read. Remember you are writing for a reading audience and your voice should be professional but not dry. If you aren't interested in what you are writing about, neither will your reader. Talk about what you know, draw from personal experiences, hobbies, or other things you enjoy. Chances are that they are a whole worldwide group of people interested in the same thing you are. Find your niche and enjoy what you are doing. Money will come later but regardless of that, it is good practice and you will have a great portfolio.

5. Stick to an "umbrella topic" when approaching a personal blog. By this I mean if you are talking about kittens and classical music, more than likely your reader will not be interested in spark plugs and death metal. While this topic umbrella can be categorized as you go to fit what you are discussing, make sure you have a general central theme somewhere in there to draw ideas out of.

Tips & Warnings

• Always remember that you are writing to a specific demographic of people, so make them feel included in your articles by informing them in new products or ideas, or simply opening up your blog for social discussions of issues that are important to you.

• Do read other people's blogs and participate in communities centered around the writing community. If you find a particularly interesting article, leave the author a comment to let them know. Everyone needs a little ego boost sometimes.

• Choose your words sparingly. Be concise and break up your ideas so that you do not have large rambling blocks of thoughts. Length is lethal on the web. Use your words effectively.

• Don't solely focus on one specific topic. This can become boring for the reader and hard to gain interest in your content. Try to think about the box and add new and relevant material to your blog to keep it fresh.

• Don't get discouraged. while you may get lucky and land a great gig immediately, many writers know that the query letters outweigh the number of responses you receive. Do your homework before agreeing to share financial information and make sure to back up your content somewhere safe in case there is a legal issue somewhere down the road.

• Don't compare your blog, article or book to someone else's. Becoming a writer is a labor of love and no two writers are the same. While it is a good idea to find related ideas from others' blogs about your umbrella topic, make sure you know the copyright laws before you start typing.

• Do NOT plagiarize or write material that is very similar to another authors' work. if you must take an idea from another writer or source, make sure that it is in your own words and from your own point of view. Citing your sources is also a great way to make sure that you don't get in trouble, and make the original author feel good that they had been referenced.

Resources

• Great Resource for Tips, Jobs, and More
• Great Resource for Stay at Home Moms
• The top Social Blog On The net