The Best Advice I heard as a Beginning Online Writer

Stay the course and don’t give up.

I’m into my 5th month writing online and I haven’t given up. I’m more empowered than ever with the feedback I’ve received through comments and emails from editors and authors writing online.

These are my key takeaways from 5 months of writing online:

First:

Immerse yourself in your writing. Let it flow from you.

Don’t second guess yourself.

If you enjoy throwing a partial draft into ChatGPT, do it.

However, relying on Chat is a bad idea.

ChatGPT is a tool like a calculator. Have fun with it but stay vigilant. Don’t fall into a Chat trap.

Refrain from editing.

If you stop to edit each sentence, you break your train of thought and become self-conscious.

Second:

Curate your work. Read it as if someone else wrote it.

Be critical and alert to words or phrases that don’t sound right.

Read your work out loud.

Don’t be afraid to take out perfectly crafted sentences. Sometimes it hurts.

But, if the sentence is repetitious, or too wordy, it should be tossed out.

Third:

Let the rhythm of the article take precedence over the content.

An article should move along like a stimulating conversation. It should flow and be effortless to read.

Letting the flow of the article lead you means you must understand where you are going and what you are describing.

Fourth:

Don’t be afraid of the “publish” button.

I self published for months and received feedback and got into publications.

Recently, however, I learned sending drafts to online publications is better than self publishing.

Nevertheless, by hitting the “publish” button, you gain confidence publishing and there’s value going through the whole process — from conception to publication.

Fifth:

Be dispassionate and subjective.

This sounds contradictory but hear me out.

Passionately immerse yourself in your writing while simultaneously stepping back from it to notice patterns or themes.

This allows introspection to guide you.

Introspection is a psychological process involving looking inward and examining one’s own thoughts, judgements, feelings and perceptions.

Engaging in introspection makes you a better writer.

These are a few insights I’ve learned in these months of writing online. It’s been a steep learning curve for me as I’m sure it is for all beginning writers. It takes courage to write and publish online and my hat is off to every new writer. You are all pioneers!

I’m looking forward to a productive new year and I hope it’s a safe and joyous one.