Writing

Publisher Word Count for Magazine Writing

When you write an article or manuscript for a magazine, you’ll usually be asked to hit a predetermined word count. There would seem to be nothing complicated about this. It’s the exact reason we created WordCounter. You place your writing into the text area and you instantly know the number of words you have typed. One would assume that magazine editors and other publishers wouldn’t have any issue with this number. The problem is that they likely will.

Why is an accurate word count not useful to many publishers? There is a simple reason that may not seem obvious at first, but it makes a lot of sense once it’s pointed out. Below is the reason why we decided it was important to include a publisher word count in the details section for those who will be submitting their writing for publication.

Word Length

Word Counter counts the individual words written. “He is at a big park” is six words. “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” is one word. The problem for publishers is the six words take up 19 character spaces (20 if you place a period at the end) while the single word takes up 34 character spaces. While the length of the words will even itself out to a certain degree over the length of one’s writing, each writer will still produce different length articles even when they have the same word count.

When a publisher asks for a certain number of words, they are doing so in anticipation the writing will be the length needed to fill the space allotted for the article. It’s the space the article fills which is of the utmost importance to the publisher, not the actual word count. The problem is that explaining to the writer the exact length can be complicated, so they give a word count and hope that produces writing that fills the space allotted for the article. An article with unusually long words would likely go over the anticipated length, while an article with many short words would fall short of the length needed by the publisher.

To help make things a bit more accurate, there’s actually a publisher’s specific word count. Instead of counting each individual word, publishers have agreed upon the definition that a “word” is six characters long including blank spaces. This solves the issue of words being different lengths and gives a much more accurate estimate of space an article will use as compared to simply counting individual words. Using this definition, “He is at a big park.” would be three and one-third words (including the period). On the other hand, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” would be five and one-third words.

The Word Counter Publisher Count calculates a word to be six character spaces and applies it to your writing to come up with its total. This isn’t perfect for publishers, but it’s a lot more accurate than counting individual words. If you are submitting work to a publisher, you can ask which of the two methods they would prefer when you attach a word count total to your submission.

50 Creative Writing Ideas and Prompts

When it comes to writing, there are plenty of excuses people use to justify not writing. One of the most common excuses is writer’s block (whether that really exists or not). There’re few things worse than wanting to write but nothing seems to come out. I’ve found over the years that one of the best ways for me to tackle writer’s block is to step away from whatever I happen to be working on at that moment, and just get myself writing again. For me, if I can begin to write anything, then the words begin to flow on the original project where the writer’s block started.

One of the best ways to do this is through creative writing prompts. These appeal to me mainly because they are fresh ideas and I don’t have the inhibition of writing badly since I know I’m the only one who is going to be reading them. The problem is finding new writing ideas to prompt me into writing. With that in mind, and knowing others may also be in a similar situation as I, here are some creative writing ideas to help you beat that writer’s block.

50 Creative Writing Prompts

When it comes to these writing prompts, there are no rules to how you should write. Whether you decide to write a short story, a poem, an essay a haiku or any other form, the main objective is to simply begin writing. Choose ant of the prompts that speaks most to you and let the words begin to flow…

1. Suddenly, I knew…

2. “How long have I got?” she asked.

3. He knew it couldn’t last forever.

4. Suddenly, she began to laugh aloud.

5. Everything had changed, and he knew that he’d have to change too.

6. It had been a terrible year, but at the same time, she wouldn’t have changed a thing because…

7. The old man had looked like an easy victim, but…

8. It was the coldest winter on record, and all the roads were closed.

9. As the storm became fiercer, there was a knock at the door.

10. If my car hadn’t broken down that day, I’d never have…

11. I broke every one of my New Year’s resolutions that day.

12. It was the best summer ever.

13. She could hear the crowd cheering her on.

14. Would you believe that a butterfly could change your life?

15. The traffic policeman scanned the horizon and saw an approaching dust cloud.

16. If only Harry had remembered to close the window.

17. It was the first time I’d ever tried to sail a boat.

18. The world exploded into a rainbow of colors.

19. Sometimes, the wrong thing turns out to be right after all.

20. “You can’t do that!” he exclaimed.

21. I never thought I’d be famous until…

22. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life.

23. Choose a photo and develop your story around the scene.

24. Pick a family anecdote and turn it into an amusing story.

25. Think of a famous person and write a journal entry as if you were that person.

26. Begin with “I used to believe that” and simply write.

27. I never liked a sore loser…

28. The coals were still smoldering long after midnight.

29. She never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment.

30. He fiddled nervously with his phone and wondered about…

31. Everyone was afraid of Mr. Wilkins.

32. Describe a person’s appearance in a way that reveals something about their character.

33. I have never met a cheekier child.

34. Something strange happens every time I hear that song.

35. I had never cooked a meal before…

36. Today, I knew that I needed a complete change.

37. Choose ten clichés or idioms and find creative ways to say the same thing.

38. We didn’t plan to get lost in the woods.

39. The plane was rapidly losing height. He knew he had only one chance.

40. If only I had remembered what my mother always said.

41. It was the most inspiring thing she had ever seen.

42. He never thought he’d end up being a hero.

43. The silence was more powerful than any scream.

44. Aliens? I never believed in them until…

45. They always called him ‘the mad hermit’, but he was saner than any of us.

46. Imagine being caught in an earthquake or a flood. What happens? What would you do?

47. That day, he discovered that magic was real…

48. A desperately poor man finds a priceless artifact. What happens to him as a result?

49. The strangest dream I ever had.

50. Write a witty essay about writers’ block.

Do you have a good creative writing idea or prompt that has helped you in the past? Or have any of the above prompts made you think of new ones that could benefit other writers? Feel free to share any writing prompts you’d like and we’ll add them to this list!

(Image courtesy of Julie Jordan Scott )

How to Reduce Your Essay Word Count

When it comes to writing essays, there are two frequent issues that arise; the word count is either too low or too high for the stated range of the essay. For those who perpetually end up with too few words, you need to figure out ways to increase your essay word count. For those who frequently find themselves with too many words on the page, there are some simple steps to take when editing to help reduce the number of words while at the same time making it a stronger piece of writing. Below are some suggestions to do this.

Rank Your Arguments

If you find you’re well above your word count maximum, the first step is to rank the points you use to substantiate your argument. By ranking the importance of the arguments you make in the essay, you can eliminate ones which aren’t as important as others, keeping the essay strong while removing large portions of writing. If you don’t want to eliminate any of the points, you can still reduce word count by mentioning all the arguments, but not writing as much detail about those not as strong as the more important points.

Focus on the Main Point

Once you determine what the important arguments are for your essay, read through it looking for any paragraphs or sentences which fail to address your main argument(s) or topic. It’s easy to accidentally go off on tangents when writing, and eliminating these tangents can help reduce word count. The more focused you can remain on your topic and arguments, the more concise your writing will be.

Use the Best Verb

This may sound obvious, but a lot of writers don’t do this well. When writing, always use the perfect verb rather than one that’s close, but not perfect. When you use the best verb possible, it will reduce the amount of writing you do in most cases. This is due to the fact that when you use a verb that’s not quite correct, you usually need to add more words to clarify your meaning. Here’s an example:

“They beat the opposing team by a lot of points.”

While “beat” is accurate in this case, it’s not the perfect verb because they not only beat the team, they beat the team by a lot. Using the better verb “trounce” in this instant will reduce the word count while still giving the same meaning as the longer sentence.

“They trounced the opposing team.”

Remove Adverbs

Look through your essay and see if you find any adverbs, especially adverbs which have “ly” endings. In many instances, these adverbs end up being filler words which end up being placed in the writing because it’s the way we talk, but the words don’t add anything beneficial to the actual essay. Go through the essay and ask if each one is needed and remove those that aren’t. Some words you may want to look out for are (click on image to expand to see better)

Remove Adjectives

Much in the same way as adverbs make their way into writing, multiple adjectives are used when one (or none at all) would suffice. Read the essay to see if all of the adjectives used are needed, and remove those which don’t add to the meaning of the sentence being written. Some common adjectives to look for are:

able, bad, big, different, early, first, few, good, great, high, important, large, last, little, long, new, next, old, other, own, public, right, same, small, young

(Photo courtesy of Matt Hampel)

Who vs Whom

When it comes to writing, there are some words that can be confusing as to which is the correct one to use. A good example of this confusion is further versus farther. Another common word duo many people have difficulty knowing which is correct is ‘who’ and ‘whom’.

Very few people bother to use the word ‘whom’ in spoken English, but when we’re writing, we want to use the correct grammar. Since we so seldom use ‘whom’, we aren’t always sure when it is the right choice, or when we should stick to the familiar ‘who’ instead.

Most experts agree that if we are unsure, ‘who’ is a safer bet. And it’s fine for informal writing – after all ‘whom’ is slowly disappearing from our language. However, if we have to produce formal written work, we do need to know when to use the mysterious ‘whom’. Put it in the wrong places, and you’ll look pompous and silly. Omit it when you should have used it, and you’ll look unprofessional if your error is picked up.

First of all, we’ll look at the rule that governs the use of ‘whom’, and then, to make it easier for you, we’ll look at a little ‘cheat’ that you can use to test a sentence when you aren’t sure which of the two words belongs.

The rule governing the use of ‘who’ and ‘whom’

Look at the verb in your sentence. Is ‘who’ performing the action? If so, ‘who’ is the right choice to make. So ‘who’ is the subject of a verb – the one who is the doer!

Who is there?
Do you know who will attend the conference?
Who threw that snowball?
I got hit by a snowball and I want to know who threw it!
This is the man who won the prize.

You’ve probably already guessed that since you choose ‘who’ when the person you’re referring to is the subject of your verb, you’ll use ‘whom’ when the person becomes the object of the verb. The object is acted on by the verb rather than being the one responsible for the action.

With whom were you out last night?
We will inform those whom we shortlist.
Be selective about those whom you choose as friends.
To whom should the invoice be sent?

An easy ‘cheat’

Although we tend to be confused about when to use the word ‘who’ and the contexts in which ‘whom’ is the correct choice, we’re much more familiar with the words ‘he’ and ‘him’ and ‘they’ and ‘them’. We instinctively know which of the words in these pairs fit into any sentence.

You will have noticed that ‘whom’, ‘him’ and ‘them’ all end in the letter ‘m’, and the rule for choosing ‘them’ or ‘him’ rather than ‘they’ or ‘he’ is exactly the same as it is for ‘who’ and ‘whom’. By playing around with the sentence you plan to write, substituting ‘he’ or ‘him’ for ‘who’ or ‘whom’ you can get a pointer that tells you which of the two words will be correct. Of course, that won’t work as well for questions, but in that case, you can try answering the question as simply as possible to get your pointer.

Question: Who / Whom is knocking on the door? Answer: He is knocking.

So now we know that the right word to use in the question is ‘who’.

I met three men, one of who / whom is an astronaut. I met three men, one of them is an astronaut.

In this case, ‘whom’ matches ‘them’ and would be the correct word to use.

Unfortunately, our little cheat doesn’t always work as easily as it does in the above examples. If you find yourself struggling, you’ll have to return to your verb so you can decide whether who / whom is the subject or object of the verb. Always remember a subject performs the action indicated by the verb while the object is on the receiving end.

You can also look at where your prepositions are located. ‘Whom’ often follows a preposition. For example:

With whom
Of whom
Beside whom
After whom
Around whom

Still worried?

Remember, the subtleties which dictate when we use ‘who’ and when we use ‘whom’ are not clear to the majority of people. Unless you are writing a formal document, you can choose ‘who’ and hope for the best. But if you can master the ‘who / whom’ distinction, you’ll be ahead of the pack, and that’s always a great place to be.

Further Away versus Farther Away

There are times when English can be confusing, even to native speakers who learned the language from the cradle. One of the common areas of confusion arises when we have to choose between two words which seem to be almost the same. Learning to properly understand the different uses of different words is one aspect of improving your vocabulary.

For example, the question whether to use “further away” or “farther away” can be confusing. They look very similar, and their meanings are similar too. When we’re talking, few people would even notice the difference, but when we’re writing, we need to be more precise and choose our words carefully. How will we know when to use “further” and when to use “farther?” Luckily, there’s a very simple way to work it out when you proofread your writing. It’s the difference between literal distance and figurative distance.

Distances can be literal or figurative

When we refer to distance, it can be either literal or figurative. For example:

“How much farther will we have to drive to reach our hotel?”

In this example, the person asking the question is looking for a literal distance. They want to know how many miles they will have to travel to reach their destination. “Farther” is completely correct in this context.

In the following example, our distance is figurative:

“Would you like me to explain this further?”

Obviously, the answer here can’t be “Five miles” because we aren’t looking at a literal distance.

The good news is there’s a simple and useful trick to remembering the difference. To make your life easier, you can remember the correct use for “farther” by looking at the first syllable, “Far.” Now think of all the distance measurements. There are miles, kilometers, centimeters, inches and so on. Would you associate these measurements with what you are going to say? If so, then “farther” is the word you should be choosing in order to be 100% correct.

Now consider “further” as being an “add-on”:

“You can have a further $5.”
“It will be a further year before you finish your studies.”
“I was further insulted by her rude behavior on Sunday.”

It tells you that something extra is going to be added.

Interchangeability: just to make you more confused

Now that we have a clear explanation of when to use the word “farther” rather than “further” it’s time to muddy the waters a little. Although you shouldn’t use “farther” at times when “further” is the more appropriate choice, there are times when you can use “further” instead of “farther.” There are even some who advise you to choose “further” when in doubt.

People have been using these two words interchangeably for a long time, and in other parts of the world where English is spoken, “further” is used much more often, while few people use “farther” at all. But if you want to fit in with accepted modern American grammar, it’s important to remember the simple distinction between the literal distance “farther” and the figurative distance “further.” If you are writing a report or an essay, you need to choose the correct word, and the usages we’ve just discussed are accepted as correct in both the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook.

But there are still cases in American grammar in which we will find that the two words are interchangeable. For instance:

“How much farther do you have to read?” and “How much further do you have to read?” would both be correct. After all, you could be asking someone how many pages they still need to read to finish the book, or you could be asking if they will have to read more books or more chapters to get the information they need. In the first example, you’re asking for a literal distance in the number of pages. In the second example, you’re asking for a figurative distance. As with so many other grammar rules, context is very important.

Let’s keep it simple. If reading this has made you more confused than ever, then just hold onto this thought:

“Farther” is a distance and “further” is something extra. How easy is that?

365 Day First Book Writing Challenge: How to Write a Book in a Year

You have decided you want to write a book in the next year. That’s great, but now you need to come up with a plan to make that happen that’s simple enough to help you reach the goal, yet allows you to write enough to complete a book within a year. One easy and effective way to accomplish the book-in-a-year goal is to take the 365-day book writing challenge.

The concept of this challenge is simple enough that any writer, no matter what their level, should be able to follow it to reach their goal. Most people who decide they want to write a book fail because they try to do too much in too little amount of time. This challenge leverages the fact there are 365 days in a year and that you want to build a daily writing habit.

The book writing challenge works in the following way. Once you decide to begin, each day you need to write between one and 365 words. You want to shoot for writing the highest number of words you can to cross the highest number off the chart, but as long as you write any number of words which corresponds with a number that’s still available on the chart, you’re golden. At the end of the day, you place an “x” on the chart over the number of words you wrote that day. Each day you do this for the entire year and at the end, you will have written 66,795 words. Even more importantly, you’ll have established a daily writing habit which you can then use to write your next book in even less time.

365 Day Book Writing Challenge (click on image to print PDF)

To be successful in this challenge, there are a few important steps you should take. First, you should print out the challenge sheet. Once done, you should put it somewhere where you’ll see it daily. Tape it to the top of your laptop computer or hang it on the bulletin board above your writing desk. The chart needs to be visible so you are reminded each day you need to write, even if it’s only a little bit. This visual reminder will help you reach your daily goal of writing and the ultimate goal of finishing your book.

The second rule is you aren’t allowed to go to bed until you have crossed off one of the numbers on the sheet. There really is no excuse not to cross off one of the numbers. The truth is that if you are unable to cross off a number each day of the year with all of the smaller word counts available, you’re not serious about writing the book. In a way, it’s a test to determine if you are willing to take the actions necessary to write the book, or if you just say you want to, but it’s only words. That may sound a bit harsh, but if you can’t write a few words each day no matter what happens in life, writing the book isn’t a priority in your life. The only thing that can keep you from completing this challenge is yourself.

Another key about this challenge which increases your likelihood of success is that it takes into account the reality of life. There are going to be busy days and days when the unexpected happens and you won’t be able to write as much as you hoped. You should always shoot for the highest word count number still available on the sheet, but when a day comes when that isn’t possible, crossing off a smaller number is perfectly acceptable.

While having a book written at the end of the year is a huge deal, the biggest benefit of this challenge is something you’ll gain that’s far more important. This challenge requires you to write every day. Even the days when you’re only able to write a word or two, you must sit down and write something. That daily writing will turn into a daily routine by the end of the year. Once you have established that habit, you have created a foundation which will allow you to write far more the following year.

If you have had the goal to write a book in the past but have failed in getting it done, I encourage you to try the 365-day book writing challenge. It has a lot of things going for it that other challenges don’t, which increases the likelihood you’ll actually complete it and reach your goal. Best of all, at the end of the year, you’ll have a book written and you’ll have the skill-set in place to write as many more as you want to in the future.

How Many Words in a Paragraph?

As a writer, you may find yourself pondering the question, “How many words are in a paragraph?” Much like the number of sentences in a paragraph, there’s no single answer to this question. A rule of thumb answer is, “There are usually 100 to 200 words in a paragraph,” but a more accurate answer would be “It depends…” which isn’t particularly helpful. So let’s take a more in-depth look at word count, paragraphs and how it all works.

What does a paragraph usually consist of?

A paragraph usually deals with a single idea. In general, you’ll have an introductory sentence expressing that idea, and several supporting sentences to round it off. Paragraphs are usually about 100 – 200 words long, but there are more exceptions to this rule-of-thumb than you’d expect.

Commercial Writing

Commercial writing breaks all the rules. Whether or not you find it irritating, your task is to hold your readers’ attention and get them to read what you’ve written. The average person doesn’t like to see solid blocks of text. It looks like it’s going to be difficult to get through, and nobody likes to work harder than they have to.

“White Space” is a great way to make your information look easier to master, and one of the best ways to create “white space” is through using paragraphs. For commercial writing, it’s best to keep sentences short and punchy, and the same goes for paragraphs.

People don’t usually like to see paragraphs that are more than three or four lines long. How many words is that? Again, although it’s not helpful, the answer is “It depends…” Font styles and font size will affect paragraph length – at least from a psychological perspective.

For example, this is a blog post, and I want to keep the reader engaged. The longest paragraph under this heading is only 61 words long. This is the shortest one so far, and it only uses 37 words.

I want to get your attention!

The above paragraph is only six words long, and you can count the words in this one if you like.

Dialogues

To make things easy for your reader, you’ll switch paragraphs every time you switch speakers, for example:

“I don’t know how long a paragraph should be,” said Mary, “but I hope to find out by reading this article.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” John replied, “but don’t let that limit your creativity!”

“Really? Can I bend the rules?”

“The rules are really more like guidelines.”

“Cool!”

As you can see, I was able to stop identifying the speakers as soon as the conversation began to flow because John and Mary each had paragraphs to themselves. Neither of them said anything that was even close to 100 words, but it’s still easy to see who said what. Mary’s final paragraph was one word long.

Academic Writing

In academic writing, paragraphs will usually consist of the “standard” 100 – 200 words (Burns, 2002). You will begin the paragraph with an idea and then explain it in the light of currently accepted knowledge (Phillips, 2014) with references. Bear in mind that your tutor will want to see some original thought, but will expect it to be motivated according to your reading (Williams et al, 1994). Smith (2004) supports this concept and confirms that academic writing requires longer paragraphs than those generally found in commercial writing or even story-telling. 200 words is really a bit long for any paragraph and since this one is just over 100 words, you’ll soon see why this should be the case (Me, 2015).

Whew! That was a marathon to read, wasn’t it?

How many words per paragraph? It’s really up to you!

As a takeaway, I’d like to suggest that there are absolutely no hard-and-fast rules as to how many words a paragraph should be.

Making them too short, can look a little odd.

This is an excellent example.

But it can work in some cases.

On the other hand, having really long paragraphs might work for you, but not for your reader. A lot of text without “white space” is hard on the eyes, and the brain. I’ve seen blog posts and web pages with absolutely no paragraphs to speak of. Did I want to read them? Not really. It was too difficult to separate the ideas from one another and there just didn’t seem to be a good enough reason to read them if I could find the same information split up into bite-sized chunks that were easier to digest. So, whatever you do, don’t forget the importance of paragraphs – and keep them a bit shorter than this one, unless you’re trying to baffle the reader.

By the way, the above paragraph is “only” 122 words (656 characters) long. Do you see what I mean when I say that longer isn’t always better? I’m ready to bet that you do.

(Photo courtesy of Enokson)

31 New Year’s Resolutions for Writers

It’s almost that time again. Time to resolve to get your entire life under control, preferably by February first. Yes, it’s time for the dreaded New Year’s resolution. This year, in addition to trying to lose weight, quit smoking, save money, or give up some other addiction, why not resolve to improve a part (or parts) of your writing life? You might find that fixing up your writing life leads to improvement in other areas as you gain confidence and success in your work. And even if it doesn’t, you’ve still accomplished something significant. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Finish the Project

Whether you’re working on a book, short story, article, or poetry, finish whatever it is you’re working on. It’s easy to get sidetracked or frustrated and jump from project to project, never finishing anything. But a finished work (and by finished, I mean revised, edited, and as perfect as you can make it) is the only thing you should be submitting for publication, which is resolution #2.

Submit the Project

Just don’t submit it until it’s finished. In the rush to feel like you’re making progress it’s tempting to send things out too soon. Resist this urge and wait until it’s as great as you can make it. You might get rejected, but you might also get accepted. Submitting the work is the only way to know for sure.

Try Something New

If you normally write novels, try a memoir. If you normally write short articles, try a novel or short story. Trying new forms of writing keeps the creative juices flowing and may introduce you to something you really enjoy.

Call Yourself a Writer

Do you write? Then you’re a writer and you shouldn’t be afraid to label yourself as such. Too many of us hem and haw when asked, “What do you do?” Just own it. “I’m a writer.”

Exercise

Yes, this is one resolution that everyone makes, but it’s especially important for writers. We tend to spend too much time sitting on our butts. (Whether we’re working or mindlessly surfing the Internet and calling it “work,” the result is the same. Too much butt-sitting.) In addition to just being good for you, exercise boosts creativity and gives your mind a chance to roam free for a while. Bonus points if you can go outside and get some fresh air and new scenery.

Make Writing a Priority

Find them time in your day to write. This may mean skipping other fun activities, or letting some chores or errands pile up for another day. Do whatever you have to do to make writing a priority in your life instead of something that you do in your spare time.

Good writers read a lot. Read fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, or the back of cereal boxes. You’ll get ideas and improve your craft by studying those who do it better (and worse) than you.

Journal More

If you already keep a journal, resolve to be more consistent about writing in it. Or, start a different kind of journal. Maybe you’re keeping one that tracks your daily activities, but can you also add one dedicated to your creativity or travel? Writing about something new can open you up to new ideas. If you don’t keep a journal, start one. It gives you some writing practice and may let you see ideas and problems in ways you haven’t before.

Learn at Least One New Thing

Take a class in something or make an effort to study on your own. It doesn’t have to be writing related. The more things you know, the deeper your well of experience that you can draw upon when writing. And if you take a class, you might meet some interesting “characters” for your work.

Stop Beating Yourself Up

If you get rejected or things aren’t going as you hoped, don’t get down on yourself. Calling yourself a failure or talking about giving up (“I’m so terrible. I’ll never get published so why bother) are counterproductive. It hurts you and isn’t necessary. You don’t have to be super positive all the time, but don’t flog yourself to death. If you get rejected, try to say, “That one didn’t work out. I’ll try again.” This is supposed to be fun and if all you’re doing is beating up on yourself, that’s not fun or healthy.

Back-Up Your Data

We all know we should do this, but a surprising number of people do not. Do you really want to try to rewrite your novel from scratch, or pay someone several hundred dollars to try and recover your data in the event of computer failure? And remember: If you lose your laptop, recovery isn’t an option. A backup drive or cloud service can be had for $100 or less and is well worth it for the peace of mind.

Get Organized

This is another one that many people attempt every New Year, but you can narrow it down to organizing just your writing life. (Many people give up on this one because organizing the whole house seems impossible, but since you’re only going to organize your writing space, you’re already ahead of the crowd. Do more if you want to, but at least get your writing area under control.) Get a file cabinet, clean up your hard drive, get an in/out box, or use whatever other methods work for you. It doesn’t have to be pretty or trendy, just functional.

Set a Realistic Overall Goal for the Year

Maybe your goal is to query twenty agents or get six new clients. Maybe you want to complete a novel and a short story, or to earn 5% more than you did last year. Pick one goal for the year and then spend the year tracking your progress. Just be realistic. You probably won’t finish thirty novels this year, nor will you make 50% more than you did last year. Being realistic leads to success. Overblown goals lead to crashing and burning.

Show up Consistently

One of the challenges of writing is showing up for work every day. There’s always so much else you could (maybe should) be doing. Train yourself to show up every day. Marking a calendar with an “X” or a sticker every day that you write is a good idea. After a few days of consistently showing up, you’ll have a nice string of marks that you won’t want to break. When tempted to skip out on a day, the thought of breaking that string will get you in the chair.

Volunteer

While not directly related to writing, volunteering gets you out of the house, off your butt, and exposes you to people and events that might provide fodder for your work. And it does something good for others, which is good for your soul. You can also volunteer for causes that are writing-related. Maybe tutor disadvantaged youths or help in a literacy campaign.

Create Your Online Presence (or improve what you’ve got)

Working writers need a website and possibly a Twitter and/or Facebook account to help with promotion to connect with readers and clients. If you’ve already got something, check to make sure it meets your needs and is professional-looking. If you don’t have anything, either figure out how to do it yourself or hire someone. Your website doesn’t have to be huge or technologically advanced, but it should be professional and informative.

Talk Less, Write More

Do you find yourself talking about your work more than actually doing it? If you spend more time talking about how you’d like to write, your dreams, and your works in progress, shut up and write. Talking won’t get the work done and published. Writing will.

Enter a Contest

You might not win, but simply entering forces you to produce a work and submit it, helping you to get past the whole, “I’m afraid of finishing anything and getting rejected” hurdles. And if you do win, fame and fortune might be yours. Or you might just win $20 or a gift certificate. Either way, winning is winning.

Figure out What’s Broken

If you’re having trouble even getting to the chair and producing anything, something’s broken. Maybe it’s your routine. You might be better of writing in the morning rather than in the afternoon or vice versa. Maybe your writer’s group isn’t fun anymore and they’re dragging you down. Maybe you’re feeling negative vibes from your significant other that he or she doesn’t like the time you spend writing. Maybe you don’t like the type of writing you’re doing anymore. Evaluate everything and everybody in your writing life to figure out what’s broken and then figure out how to fix it.

Sleep More

When you’re well rested, your brain just functions better. You’ll make fewer mistakes in your work and your ideas will be clearer and more numerous. It’s hard to get more sleep when you have other things to do, but you simply have to make it a priority.

Support Other Writers

Most writers won’t admit to being jealous of more successful writers, but the ugly monster is there. Instead of thinking, “She’s so lucky. She only got published because she knew someone who knew someone,” and seething over her good fortune, try being more positive. Try, “Hey, it’s great that you got published. I’m so happy for you.” Success for one person doesn’t mean there will be none for you. It’s not like grabbing the last TV at the Black Friday blowout sale. Be kind and encouraging to others. You might find that you receive support in return instead of negativity. Plus, you’re just gaining good karma points. Who knows? That person who knew someone who knew someone might share that information with you, too.

Learn about Self-Publishing

Even if your goal is to be traditionally published, learning about self-publishing can come in handy. It’s a growing market with lots of opportunity for all forms of writing. Done well, it can lead to success. Done poorly and hastily, however, and you can end up being the guy with 1,500 one-star reviews on Amazon. Don’t be that guy.

Have More Fun

If writing is becoming something you dread, you need to find a way to make it fun again. No, it’s never going to be a laugh-a-minute job, but it shouldn’t be something you hate, either. Maybe you need to try a new form or genre, or just stop taking everything so seriously.

Stop Procrastinating

There are lots of ways to conquer writer’s procrastination. Before you let it eat away your productivity, figure out why you do it and then get over it. Every day that you don’t write is another missed opportunity. This is the easiest way to find more time to write.

Conquer Your Fear of Revision

Too many writers have bunches of first drafts littering their hard drives, yet they never send them out because revision leaves them cold. The first draft was fun. Revision feels like drudgery. Get over it. Read books or take a class in editing and revision. You cannot succeed as a writer unless you’re willing to revise (often) so the sooner you beat this fear, the better.

Act Professionally (even if you don’t feel professional)

This is sort of like faking it till you make it. Even if you don’t have work or a publisher/agent yet, act as if you do when contacting people. Be confident (but not arrogant) and treat everyone with courtesy and professionalism. If you look like a slob, talk in slang, miss deadlines, or submit work with mistakes, people aren’t going to work with you.

Limit Non-Essential Internet Surfing

The Internet is a fabulous invention, but it’s also a massive time waster. You can recapture a lot of time in your day if you limit your Facebooking, Tweeting, and mindless surfing.

Stay Informed

No, you don’t have to commit to watching two hours of CNN every night. But a good writer is informed, not only about things related to writing but also about world events. Sometimes your best ideas will come from what’s going on in the world. And don’t limit yourself to learning about just one side of an issue. Seek out balanced coverage and form your own opinions.

It’s easy to cocoon yourself in your house with your manuscripts, but you need the input of other people to make your work better. Sure, you think you’re a genius, but what do other people think? Sharing is scary, though, because it feels risky. “What if they hate it? I’ll have wasted all this time.” Get past the fear. Find people you trust to give you good (not necessarily positive) feedback and share your work with them. You’ll get a more realistic picture of how you’re doing.

Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

Some people make a boatload of money. Others make a more modest amount. Some writers are on TV all the time while others are virtual recluses. No one way is right for everyone, so stop wasting time comparing your career with everyone else’s. Every career moves at its own pace and is subject to a variety of factors and influences. Figure out what you want and then go for that, not what you think everyone else is doing.

Improve Your Vocabulary

Work on bettering your writing by improving your vocabulary. This is an easy way to improve your writing (and yourself) in the New Year.

You don’t have to tackle everything on this list. That would ensure failure before you even get the holiday decorations packed away. Just pick one or two that motivate you and then pace yourself so that you spread the effort out over the year. It’s a New Year’s resolution, after all. It’s supposed to be good for the whole year so there’s no need to freak out if you haven’t finished it by Valentine’s Day.

(Photo courtesy of Kat)

How to Proofread Your Writing

For many people, one of the most difficult aspects of writing is the proofreading process. If you have been working on a paper or a writing assignment for a long period of time, it’s easy to read words into your writing that aren’t there and accidentally miss grammatical mistakes within the writing. One of the best ways to prevent this is to get someone to proofread your writing, since they look at it from a completely fresh perspective. The issue for many, however, is that there often isn’t someone around who’s willing or able to proofread your writing. If you find you often miss mistakes when proofreading and can’t get someone else to proofread it, there are a few steps you can take which will give you a better chance of catching your writing errors.

Walk Away

One of the best steps you can take when proofreading your own work is to take some time away from it, even if that is only for an hour or two. A full day or two is even better and one of the reasons you should learn to not procrastinate. When you try to proofread as soon as you finish writing, you still have it in your head what you meant to say, and this can often overwrite what’s actually on the pages. Taking some time away will allow you to read your writing with “fresh eyes” and will make it much more likely you’ll spot errors.

Listen to Your Text

If you don’t have time to walk away for a bit of time, listen to your writing instead of reading it (you can use the proofread tool available on wordcounter). Switching things up so you listen to what you wrote instead of reading it will again will make it more likely you will catch your mistakes rather than if you reread the text.

Print and Read

Another way to increase the chances of catching mistakes is to print out your writing instead of proofreading it on the computer. Trying to proofread on your computer makes it easier to miss mistakes than when you proofread with the writing physically in front of you.

Read from Bottom to Top

An effective way of proofreading which forces you to look at the writing from a different perspective is to proofread from the bottom to the top. Instead of proofreading as one would normally read the writing, start at the bottom and read towards the top. It won’t make any sense, but that’s the point. It will force you to look at the individual words written, rather than skimming over sentences.

Read It Out Loud

Another way to increase your chances of finding mistakes when proofreading is to read your writing out loud instead of silently in your mind. Reading silently increases your chances of inserting skipped words that aren’t on the paper but you meant to write. Audibly saying the words makes it much more difficult to skip over these types of mistakes.

Don’t Do Everything at Once

When you do sit down to proofread, don’t try to correct all the problems in a single read through. Instead, concentrate on a specific aspect you want to make sure is correct. For example, concentrate on word choice for the first read through. Then concentrate on finding grammatical errors and sentence structure mistakes on the second read through. For the third reading, look specifically for spelling mistakes. Yes, this means you are going to have to read through your writing several times instead of a single time, but that will also make it much more likely you’ll find all the mistakes you may have made.

Use Spellcheck and GrammarCheck

Using a spell checker can help you spot words which have been repeated, words which have reversed letters and other common spelling mistakes, but you should never rely on it as the only proofreading you do. While a spell checker is great for its specific job, it fails at a lot of other things, especially when it comes to grammar. “There” is spelled correctly, but it’s still wrong if the proper word for a sentence is “their.” A grammar check can help out with these mistakes. Both are tools which can help you find errors you may miss on your own, but they don’t replace actually rereading your writing and looking for mistakes.

Make a Proofreading Checklist

You know your weaknesses better than anyone else, and you should make a checklist of these weaknesses. This will allow you to double and triple check these areas of your writing when you proofread. If you don’t currently know your writing weaknesses, begin to pay attention to the remarks when you get assignments back so you can create the checklist. By paying special attention to the writing areas where you tend to be weakest, you’ll improve and make sure you aren’t consistently making the same writing mistakes on your papers.

(Photo courtesy of With Associates)

How to Increase Your Essay Word Count

When you have an essay assignment with a minimum word count, one of the worst feelings is when you believe you have finished only to find that you’re still well below the minimum you have to reach (as opposed to having too many words). Many students try to solve this problem by rewriting the essay’s sentences to make them wordier or splitting contractions. While these do increase word count, they usually make the essay weaker in the process. It doesn’t have to be that way. If you ever find yourself in a position where you need to increase the number of words for an essay, below are some simple techniques which can help you add to your writing while improving it instead of writing unneeded filler.

Add Examples

Skim through your essay looking for any place you have used an example to make a point. In most cases, you should be able to provide additional examples which will make your essay stronger by showing your understanding of the topic while also increasing the word count. You can also go through the essay and look for statements made where inserting an example would be appropriate to help support the statement.

Address Different Viewpoints

An effective way of increasing word count and improving your essay at the same time is to address different viewpoints to your own. You have the opportunity to discuss how these alternative viewpoints differ from the conclusions you have made, and it gives you an opportunity to explain why you believe your conclusions are superior. This shows you have considered a range of different opinions while coming to your conclusions, and in doing so make your essay stronger while adding more words.

Clarify Statements

When you find the statements in your writing, if inserting an example doesn’t make sense, then clarifying the statement may be appropriate. This can be achieved by inserting one or more specific statements to clarify the original one. A common way to do this is to follow the statement with, “In other words…” It’s important not to over-clarify statements or use this for every statement you write as it will begin to look like filler, but using it sporadically throughout your essay can increase the word count and show you perfectly understand the points you’re trying to make.

Find Additional Sources

Another way to improve your essay and increase word count is to find additional sources you haven’t previously mentioned which support the statements and conclusions you have made. The more sources you have, the stronger the essay will be in most cases. Spending some time searching for additional sources to add to the essay can be a great way to add quality content to it.

Use Quotations

Chances are you already have appropriate quotations in your essay, and if that’s the case, skip over this suggestion. Adding more will likely not add to your essay. If you haven’t used any, however, finding appropriate quotations from experts in the field that support your statements can be an excellent way to add words to your essay while improving it at the same time.

Rework Introduction and Conclusion

If all of the above haven’t enabled you to reach your word count minimum and you need some filler, look to put it in your introduction and conclusion rather than the body of the essay. Most teachers give more leeway with the introduction and conclusion to be wordy than the guts of the essay. This is something you should try to avoid if at all possible (it’s never good to be wordier than you have to be), but if you tried everything else, it’s better to do it in these two places than in the heart of the essay.

Page Count

If you’re writing an essay which has a minimum page count instead of a minimum word count, the above suggestions will work, but you have a bit more wiggle room as well. You can make slight adjustments to the font and font size you use through a Words per Page Counter. As long as you don’t go overboard, this can be a relatively easy way to increase page count while not taking away from the essay.

(Photo courtesy of Caleb Roenigk)