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Welcome CA Marshall! My First Ever Guest Blogger!
Please help me welcome my first ever "guest blogger,"
CA Marshall, (sometimes known as Cassandra.)
*the crowd breaks into wild applause as Cassandra takes a bow*
I'm thrilled to have her here as my guest, since I'm a big fan of her writing blog which you can find at http://camarshall.blogspot.com. In fact, the following post is one I read on Cassandra's blog (so if it's familiar to you, blame me, not Cassandra!) Originally posted as part of a series known as "Friday Five," in which Cassandra collects the five best pieces of advice for writers that she's come across each week, I found its simple wisdom to be so valuable to writers at all stages along the path to publication that I asked her if I could share it here. Thank you, Cassandra, for graciously agreeing!
So, without further (meaningless) commentary from me, here is Cassandra's post!
Friday Five: Advice for Writers (Originally posted May 21st, 2010 at http://camarshall.blogspot.com)
5. Avoid comparisons to the big guys. Comparing your work to Harry Potter, Twilight, The Da Vinci Code, Eat, Pray Love, or any of the other megabestsellers is limiting yourself. Don’t be the next JK Rowling, be the next YOU!
4. Understand where your interests lie. If you don’t want to blog, you don’t have to. If you have no idea how to make videos and no desire to learn, don’t use youtube. If you can’t stand the immediateness of Twitter, don’t use it. Find a media that you do like and do it well. It’s better to do one or two things well than to overextend yourself and do a poor job.
3. Persevere. Know that what you are doing is worth it and see it through till the end. Even if only your parents get to read it, you will have accomplished something that many book writers don’t. For every writer with a finished book, there are 50 out there who didn’t finish or who never even started.
2. Don’t forget to have some fun, or you’ll go nuts. Don’t forget to take a break, find a fun hobby or person you like to spend time with. Get some sunshine (but wear SPF)
1. Set goals. Set daily writing goals that are achievable. If that means only 100 words a day, you’ll have 700 by the end of the week, 700 more than you had before. Anything else you can manage after your 100 words is gravy.
THANK YOU, Cassandra, for being my guest today!
About CA Marshall:
Living as CA Marshall means getting up at 7:30am to run Mollie, a mixed breed dog. Then it's back to sleep for a few more hours. Being a writer and freelance editor means that she can set her own hours. This also means that she can usually be found in her pajamas reading slush for her internship at a literary agency at 3am.
Cassandra jokes about living in a cornfield, but it's true. Emmett, MI is one giant cornfield with a few stoplights thrown in. Rumor has it that there's going to be oats this year instead of corn. Crop rotation and all that.
Before moving to Emmett, she spent a year in the northeast of England to attend Newcastle University and earn her MA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in fiction writing. And before that she attended Rochester College where she earned a BA in English and Professional Writing.
She dreams of one day owning a small house near the water and having a shelf full of books she has written and helped others to write.
excitedCA Marshall, (sometimes known as Cassandra.)
*the crowd breaks into wild applause as Cassandra takes a bow*
I'm thrilled to have her here as my guest, since I'm a big fan of her writing blog which you can find at http://camarshall.blogspot.com. In fact, the following post is one I read on Cassandra's blog (so if it's familiar to you, blame me, not Cassandra!) Originally posted as part of a series known as "Friday Five," in which Cassandra collects the five best pieces of advice for writers that she's come across each week, I found its simple wisdom to be so valuable to writers at all stages along the path to publication that I asked her if I could share it here. Thank you, Cassandra, for graciously agreeing!
So, without further (meaningless) commentary from me, here is Cassandra's post!
Friday Five: Advice for Writers (Originally posted May 21st, 2010 at http://camarshall.blogspot.com)
5. Avoid comparisons to the big guys. Comparing your work to Harry Potter, Twilight, The Da Vinci Code, Eat, Pray Love, or any of the other megabestsellers is limiting yourself. Don’t be the next JK Rowling, be the next YOU!
4. Understand where your interests lie. If you don’t want to blog, you don’t have to. If you have no idea how to make videos and no desire to learn, don’t use youtube. If you can’t stand the immediateness of Twitter, don’t use it. Find a media that you do like and do it well. It’s better to do one or two things well than to overextend yourself and do a poor job.
3. Persevere. Know that what you are doing is worth it and see it through till the end. Even if only your parents get to read it, you will have accomplished something that many book writers don’t. For every writer with a finished book, there are 50 out there who didn’t finish or who never even started.
2. Don’t forget to have some fun, or you’ll go nuts. Don’t forget to take a break, find a fun hobby or person you like to spend time with. Get some sunshine (but wear SPF)
1. Set goals. Set daily writing goals that are achievable. If that means only 100 words a day, you’ll have 700 by the end of the week, 700 more than you had before. Anything else you can manage after your 100 words is gravy.
THANK YOU, Cassandra, for being my guest today!
~~~
About CA Marshall:
Living as CA Marshall means getting up at 7:30am to run Mollie, a mixed breed dog. Then it's back to sleep for a few more hours. Being a writer and freelance editor means that she can set her own hours. This also means that she can usually be found in her pajamas reading slush for her internship at a literary agency at 3am.
Cassandra jokes about living in a cornfield, but it's true. Emmett, MI is one giant cornfield with a few stoplights thrown in. Rumor has it that there's going to be oats this year instead of corn. Crop rotation and all that.
Before moving to Emmett, she spent a year in the northeast of England to attend Newcastle University and earn her MA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in fiction writing. And before that she attended Rochester College where she earned a BA in English and Professional Writing.
She dreams of one day owning a small house near the water and having a shelf full of books she has written and helped others to write.
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