If you want writing to become a career, You may even need to reach a point where you need to stop treating writing as a hobby.
5 Tips To Jumpstart Your Writing Career
If you love writing and have the skills, you have a good chance of making a name for yourself. But those aren’t enough. If you want writing to become a career, you need to do everything you need to get yourself out there. You may even need to reach a point where you need to stop treating writing as a hobby.Just like any other career, you need to give your best in studying, researching, and practicing as much as you can. You also need to know the answers to questions like how has self-publishing changed in the industry, what the popular writing niches are, and what you can do to keep improving.
Aside from those things, you can also do the following tips below to jumpstart your writing career:
1. Read Books
If you’re not a fan of reading, having a writing career will be tough for you. With reading, you can significantly widen your comprehension, command of the language, and vocabulary. There’s a lot of other benefits that reading gives. So, as early as now, you need to start loving reading.
Of course, you don’t need to force yourself. You don’t have to read ten books a month, especially if you’re busy. The point is for you to make time to read, even if it’s only half an hour a day.
2. Start A Blog
You can hone your writing skills with a lot of practice. One of the most practical and enjoyable ways to practice writing is to start a blog. You can use your blog as an online journal where you can write about whatever it is that you fancy.
Of course, your blog doesn’t necessarily need to be about your life. You can write about a niche that interests you. You also don’t need to write every day. It’s much more important to have a writing schedule that you can follow. For example, it’s okay to only post twice weekly as long as you commit to it.
Aside from having a place to practice your writing chops, blogging is a great way to earn passive income.
3. Don’t Quit
Like any other job, there will be days when you may feel you want to give up. No matter how you push your hands to write—or fingers to type—your brain may decide to not cooperate. During those days, it’ll be hard to concentrate. And your mind will always try to wander off and think about anything else other than the topic or story you’re writing.
Remember, that’s normal. That’s only your brain’s way of telling you that you need to take a break temporarily—not permanently.
Also, don’t think about quitting when you receive criticisms, especially if they’re from your editors. Rather than take it personally, use it as an opportunity to learn and to grow. Keep in mind what their comments are and soon enough, you can also become a ferocious and aggressive self-editor. This is when improvement starts to kick in.
4. Write For Others
Don’t just get stuck with your blog and the story that you’re building. It’s a great idea to find work as a contributor. If you prefer the entertainment niche, then you may find that writing for magazines and entertainment websites exciting and enjoyable. Aside from making you feel like a pro, writing for others can let you earn a few bucks.
In addition, writing for others can let you get your name out there faster. You don’t need to have a big hit for people to know you’re good at what you do. You can start gaining popularity by having bylines in numerous places—whether on online or print media.
5. Don’t Stop Looking For Opportunities
Don’t stop looking for opportunities, especially when you’re still new. Even if you already have a writing job you love doing, it doesn’t mean your effort should end there. If you want to be a good writer and push through with a career in writing, you need to go above and beyond with looking for opportunities to keep writing.
Conclusion
Those tips above can let you have a jumpstart in your writing career. And as you may have noticed, the core idea here is for you to keep writing and get yourself out there. You can’t have a writing career by isolating yourself in your room, just writing on a single file that you want to publish in the future. You need to start a blog, read more, look for writing gigs, and endure criticisms to get a head start in this industry.
