Are you looking for a career that will provide you with plenty of room for creativity, mobility, and the opportunity to take on an array of responsibilities? If so, then the writing industry may be the perfect fit.
In this article, we’ll explore what it takes to become a successful writer and how you can transition from your current profession into this exciting field.
Who Is a Writer?
The term “writer” is used to describe both people and professions. A person who works as a writer may be an author (writing books), a journalist (writing articles for newspapers or magazines), an editor (editing other people’s words into articles such as editorials or speeches), a creative consultant, a scriptwriter, or even an advertising copywriter.
A career in this field can also be divided by the products that are written. While authors write books, journalists write articles, and copywriters or creative consultants create commercials, brochures, magazines, etc.
Tips towards writing for self-advancement
If you are interested in launching a successful writing career, start by thinking about the main goals you want to pursue. Here are some questions to help you figure out what will give you the best chance of succeeding:
- When do you have time to write? Is your current job demanding, or do you have a flexible schedule? Do you enjoy writing on the job, or would you prefer to do it outside of work? If possible, take time off from work for half a day once a week so that you can focus on your work. You can simply stop by at the café and write your thoughts or even take your laptop to work for the day.
- What is your commitment? Do you want to dedicate a set amount of time each week to writing, or do you want to set aside time for it randomly? It would be much harder to reach one’s goals if one never planned out their writing life. Staying motivated is vital. Set a weekly goal on how many words you want to write each week and keep that number high throughout the month.
- What is your style? Are you an academic writer, a creative writer, a journalist, or a poet? Figure out what type of writing will interest you the most. You can always convert from one form to the other later on.
- What are your strengths? Do you know what your strong points in writing are? Again, take time to think about this; it will help you figure out how to become better at writing. For example, if one is good at character development–try writing character development exercises.
- What are your weaknesses? When you first start out as a writer, you’ll probably focus more on what you do well than what needs improvement. Do your research and find out what your weaknesses are to address them the next time around.
Tips on getting started as a writer
Now that you know how to get started let’s take a look at some of the technical aspects that help newcomers become professional writers. Remember, writing is an art to be learned; others have already done the work for you.
- Find a good, honest editor. It is imperative because if the writer is having trouble making the content flow, an editor will help you fix it. Once you find an editor that you like, try to build a long relationship with that person so that you can easily learn from each other.
- Read books on writing. There are books on writing for beginners all the time, and they can help a person who is just getting started.
- Organize your thoughts. If you are writing for an article, it helps to outline your points with a structure like the pyramid method. It is a point-by-point outline where you first decide on the main points that need to be made in the article. Those points are organized into subpoints and those points into sub-subpoints etc., until you come up with a clearly organized set of ideas that can be easily explained. This will probably take a while at first and even after you are used to doing it, it will still take time and organization.
Conclusion
So, if you’re thinking of a profession that will allow you to enjoy your work, harness your creativity, and achieve success in life, writing may be the path for you.