by Annette Young
We all need a little help and encouragement sometimes. Even with all of my years of experience writing for myself and for clients, it’s still nice to get some really positive feedback. A few of my more recent clients did just that, they rated my work and said that they absolutely loved the articles I had provided for them. A little bit of encouragement goes a long way and I have to admit, it’s a good feeling.
But if you haven’t published any work yet or, if you have not started writing for clients, how do you know if your work is good, or, if it is getting better? Well, of course there’s my evaluation service which gives you a comprehensive breakdown of your fiction, articles or book, but here is a writing tip that most of you will be able to utilise even if you have limited experience;
Take a look back at your first pieces of writing and analyse them. I can almost guarantee that you will see a massive improvement if you compare it to your recent writing samples.
I did this a few weeks ago. Having moved house, I had the joyous task of sorting through some boxes that had been stashed away and as I did so, I uncovered my trusted case which holds all of my early writing samples. These date back to the 1980’s and continue into the ’90’s so you can imagine, it’s easy to look back and compare. I spent a few hours taking a trip down memory lane and each piece of writing, now faded and fragile, brought back sharp memories of those times.
Now, I always (modestly) thought I could write and write well but when I look back at those early stories which were submitted to women’s fiction magazines, I can quite see why they were returned to me with a no-thanks. The same with my articles.
Although I didn’t see a drastic improvement at the time, I can now. That’s a great feeling by the way and it confirms your belief in your writing abilities. So, my tried and tested writing tip is to rummage through your old manuscripts and take a long, hard look at your early efforts, now compare them to your recent writing attempts and you will see just how good you are.
What better incentive is there to carry on writing?
