As an author, you’re not only competing with other books and storytellers, you’re competing with other forms of entertainment, like movies and television. Why should a reader finish your book when there is endless entertainment available to them? Writing a book that readers finish isn’t as easy as people make it out to be.

I try to speak about the query process and my own experience trying to get a literary agent as honestly as possible. My goal has always been to be transparent and show just how difficult the industry can be, even when you’ve done all you can to create a great story. Too often, we only see people posting about the wins and the good stuff and it makes us feel like we’re doing something wrong. On that note, I want to be completely honest about where I am right now with my querying.

An author’s job is to please and delight readers. This is the joyful, beautiful, wonderful gift of being a writer. Writing success is directly linked to how well we can engage readers. If you are not considering what a reader experiences when they read your story, then it will be incredibly challenging to figure out how to become a successful author.

This is the time of year when writers start talking about NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month which takes place every November. During this annual challenge, writers from all over commit themselves to writing a 50 000 word novel in a single month. The organization offers other smaller challenges throughout the year as well. You may have seen writers talking about it on social media or preparing themselves to participate. If you spend a lot of time in writing communities, you may be feeling pressure to participate yourself. Before you make a decision about whether NaNoWriMo is right for you, here are some important things to consider.

When I finished writing my first novel, I typed out ‘The End’, patted myself on the back and gleefully sent it out to readers for feedback. It had taken me many years to work up the dedication and willpower to sit down and finish a novel. I was so proud of myself. I thought the hard work was over and I just knew my readers were going to love it. I waited patiently for their feedback, anticipating all the praise that was about to come my way. But instead, what I got back was loads of red lines, including comments about how boring my story was and how unlikeable my main character was.

Feedback is a necessary part of writing a book. Since your story and characters live in your head, you’re not always going to explain things in ways that someone without the same information can understand. That’s why you need to find a feedback partner who can tell you honestly what’s missing from your story. However, too often feedback can leave us with a mountain of self-doubt, wondering how much of it we should really take into consideration.

Improve your writing process with these tips

Everyone has their own writing process and novel writing strategies that work best for them. I’m not here to tell anyone how to write a novel. Okay, maybe I am, but it’s entirely up to you if you want to take my advice and finish writing a novel faster.

Tying your sense of self to your productivity may be affecting your mindset and holding you back from a happy and thriving writing life. Many writers have learned that the more they do or accomplish, the more valuable they are. It could even be what drew them to writing a book in the first place. Writing a novel, after all, is a huge accomplishment.

You’re ready to write a book, but you’re not sure where to start. Or maybe you’re an avid creative writer and you want to level up your story skills. Whatever your reasons, the best thing you can do for your writing life is to invest in continuous learning. When you take the time to understand storytelling at a deep level, writing gets a lot faster and easier. Here are my 10 favorite resources for aspiring authors.

It may be well-intentioned but there are a few statements that aspiring authors hear all the time. I don’t think people mean to be hurtful, but these types of statements can really discourage us. Here are a few of the most common (and unhelpful) things we hear:

Writers are never promised an easy path. Most of us know we have to take our lumps, whether it's writer's block, criticism or ongoing rejection. Dealing with all of this on top of jobs, school, family and other life stuff sometimes leaves us asking why do I write? Here are four good reasons to keep writing, even if you’re feeling so discouraged, you can't get another word down.

I started writing my first book in a pink notebook when I was in elementary school. It was called The Best Friends Club, it was kind of like The Babysitters Club. I never finished it. All through high school and university I dreamed of writing a book one day, but I only wrote things sporadically when inspiration hit me.