How to Become a Writer

By: Jenny Craig

I believe just about anybody can be a great writer. It simply takes two components: A good topic or story and the willingness to see the project through.

What’s a good topic? A good topic is any subject matter of expertise or any experience that has a great life lesson tied to it. It can be a story of your own or one you personally know about. There are good stories in just about everything we do. Maybe there’s a great story in your family or at your place of employment. You can always find a good story to write about if you don’t have one of your own.

The second component is a willingness to see the project through. That simply means putting in the time to make sure you are devoting a sufficient amount of energy toward getting the project completed. It’s also a great idea to establish a timeframe. Think of the amount of pages you hope to include in your book and calculate approximately 225 words per day. If you think you may want a 100-page book completed in about a month, this is a good word count goal to set. When you give yourself a date of completion, you commit yourself to getting the job done. And although there may be distractions in your personal or work life that will show up during your “book nesting” period, you’ll still remain laser-focused on your writing goals. The day that you complete your book - trust me, you’ll want to reward yourself handsomely because you’ll feel wonderful!

Start Keeping Notes:

Sometimes when you have a book project on your itinerary, you may not always be in a place where you can just start writing. It’s a great idea to keep a small notebook or notepad handy with you at all times, so when an idea pops in your head, you can quickly jot it down before the thought fades away.

Save Your Progress:

As you continue to add volumes and chapters to your writing pieces, be certain to save your work! And not just save it, but email an updated copy of your saved work to yourself just in case. You never know what could happen! Let’s say you have your writing on your laptop and the laptop gets stolen. As much as that would suck, all would not be totally lost as long as you have a backup copy to pick up where you left off.

Think About a Publisher:
Once your book is completed, will you self-publish or will you hire a publishing company? There are advantages and disadvantages to both options so do your research to determine which option is best for you.

These are just some of the basic points that will help you get off to great start in writing your book. Even the most experienced writers still learn things as they go along, so there’s no situation where you have learned all there is to learn when it comes to writing. As the old adage says, “How Do You Eat An Elephant?” One bite at a time. The same is true when writing your masterpiece. It may appear to be the biggest project you’ve ever taken on in your entire life, but once you’ve crossed the finish line, you’re all good from there. You just have to take it one step at a time.

More about Jenny Craig:

My name is Jenny Craig. I am the proud mother of 4 children and 12 grandchildren. Over the years, I have excelled at raising my four boys, whom I consider to be the most wonderful human beings ever. I have also attempted to accomplish the following endeavors: singer, rapper, comedian, U.S. Marshall, business owner, million dollar lottery winner, and United States presidential candidate. But the one thing that I seem to be good at is creative writing.

I am a person who maintains an abundance of enthusiasm on a regular basis. I get excited about the smallest things, specifically the appearance of coincidences. And if there's more than one coincidence within a 24-hour period, please believe that I am bouncing off the walls! The saddest moment in my life was when I realized that my childhood was over.

I consider myself to be a very humble person---with just a hint of P. Diddy! My favorite hobbies are breakfast, dinner and bedtime. On a scale of 1-10, I'm a 14.2. I believe in always giving 100%, unless you're donating blood. One thing that people can say about me is, "She turned her cant’s into cans and her dreams into plans. If you ever meet me, you will likely say, "Now she is one cool gal!"