Common Pitfalls To Avoid In Writing

The writing profession opens the door to many experiences, however in the course of having these experiences there are many pitfalls a writer may experience.

We can either learn by experiencing these ourselves or we learn of them early and avoid making them. It is advisable to choose the smarter one.

Here are some common Pitfalls writers make while writing. A few I have experienced personally myself.

Thinking your creative work is not good enough. As a writer do not ever do this to yourself. Rejections in the writing industry are normal and so is criticism but do not belittle yourself because of it. Do not keep your stories in archive, they deserve to be read. Share your work, get feedbacks and hone you writing. Writers grow with experience. You do not become an exceptional writer overnight.

Your Talent is not Enough - To forge ahead in the writing field and be a real professional, do not reply solely on talent - take on writing master classes, read book in the genre you write, get a writing mentor and make sure you are writing. Get constructive feedbacks on your writing, take that step, publish your book, share it on your social media or indie writing communities. Majority of the top writers who share their success stories daily all started out wobbling, tripping and limping so take that next step, don't just imagine it. You will become a top author before you know it.

Not editing your creative work before publishing: I will like to make an analogy here. Do you know difference between buying original and fake products of goods? Most fake products sometimes come out with the wrong spelling of the original product or wrong positioning of the logo, motto or design. This informs a discerning buyer that this is the fake and not the original product and they should avoid buying it.
This is the same way readers perceived books that are not properly edited. It is like a headlight, shining brightly warning them away.

It does not matter if the words were written in a flowery language. If the content consists of spelling errors, punctuation and grammatical errors, logical inconsistencies; all of which ought to have been eliminated before publishing. The author will loose credibility with readers and may be perceived as an aspiring author or unprofessional.

Check the work of top authors, they mostly use of editors and proofreaders. If you cannot afford one, make sure you write in drafts and edit before publishing.

Not Pitching your story or Submitting to relevant places:

Writers have the terrible habit of hoarding ideas, I inclusive. However, this is a pitfall, we cry no time or we are busy.
The ideas sit around in our creative mind, we leave it hanging without putting it to good use.

The competitions and contents are ignored ; deadlines approval before we think of writing the story. This isn't weight and should be avoided.

Pitch that story, set the time, do not wait for the time to set itself into place, it never will. You are the one to be disciplined with your writing.

Set a timetable if you have to, set alarms, pitch your story, join a competition and sent that email. You are a writer. Live it.

There are more pitfalls to take note of in writing. However, I will stopping here due to how much I have prepared for the next pitfall which is Procrastination. Procrastination is the writers curse, it and it's younger siblings Writers Block. Check out the next post for more pitfalls.