Learning From Everything You Read: Tips for New Writers

There is a distinct advantage to being an expert in one genre as an author. You know your subject and you know your target audience. You get your groove on and you can produce work that sells. But what if you get in a rut and draw a blank? What if your writing is no longer fresh and your characters are flat?  Maybe you really don't want to be an expert in this genre and you want to know what else you can do with words. Here are a few tips to spring board your writing back to where you want it to be.

• Read outside your comfort zone. Reading something entirely new will give you a different perspective on character development, setting a scene, and moving the action forward. Take note on what types of books get your heart pumping and your mind spinning with ideas again.
• Start a journal with feelings and ideas about your new areas of interest. Investigate publishers in those areas and search out possible targets for your new ideas.
• Practice. Research a new topic and write a short piece for an online directory where you can gather feedback on your writing.
• Don't abandon your successful genre just yet but slowly develop your new writing arena while you are still recognized in your old one. The two will mesh by networking and getting known in both arenas.
• Experiment with your writing and find what fits and feels right. You will know it when it happens. You will start asking yourself " Why haven't I been doing this all along?" or " This is what I love" or some other ah ha statement will present itself.

The most important thing in finding what it is you want to write is this. Just write. The more you write the better you will become. Then read. Read everything without judgement. Take from each piece some tidbit of wisdom to add to your writing knowledge and leave what you don't like behind. You do not have to love a piece of writing or love an author to learn something that will improve your own writing. Everything you read and all of your writing is a learning experience that can help you grow as an author.

Finally, enjoy the process. The blessing about being a writer is the joy of the process. Like an eagle, spread your wings and fly.