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We're back today with Part 2 of Suzanne Lieurance's article. Part 1 covered Tips ONE though THREE and this post covers Tips FOUR through SIX.

Off we go with Part 2.

Six Simple Ways to Make the Most of Any Writing Workshop or Writing Class Part2
By Suzanne Lieurance

4) Learn to research all sorts of topics. In other words, don’t depend on instructors, editors, publishers, or anyone else to provide you with ALL the information you need in order to become a published writer.

Your instructor will probably give you research tips and marketing information, of course. But most published writers are self-directed learners. By that I mean, when they don’t KNOW something, they figure out HOW and WHERE to get the needed information themselves (more about how to do this, next).

5) Find other writers to network with and even hang out with, and read publications for writers.

Join a local writers’ group or at least sign up for one online (at yahoogroups.com you’ll find all sorts of groups for writers). Try to find a group that includes at least a few published writers. Generally, writers like to be helpful. They will usually share marketing tips, writing resources, etc. and will help you to more fully understand what you learn in a writing workshop or writing class.

Also, talk to some of the other writers in these groups to find out how they write. Then use some of their tips to improve your own writing, writing habits, etc. Hang out with the published writers and you’ll soon learn that they probably do a LOT of rewriting before they sell any of their work.

Read publications for writers to gain current marketing news and tips, and to find out how other writers became successful.

All these things will help give you the confidence to keep writing (and to keep practicing what you learn in your writing workshop or writing course) until you manage to get something published.

6) Don’t expect writing to be easy, and don’t assume that if it isn’t it must mean you don’t have enough talent to succeed as a writer, so you might as well drop out of the workshop or writing class.

Actually, most successful writers will tell you that talent isn’t the most important quality for success. The ability to follow directions (which will eventually come from an editor or editors) and the willingness to continue writing and rewriting, until at least some of the many rejection letters you get in the mail turn into acceptance letters, are much more important qualities for success as a writer. If you realize this BEFORE you start any writing workshop or writing course, you will be more likely to stick with it, even when the work gets difficult.

Stop by next week to find out what other successful children's writers share!

Suzanne Lieurance is an award-winning author and an experienced writing coach. Her club, The Working Writers Club, helps writers go from writing for a hobby or part time to writing as a career. Whether you are writing books or freelance writing, she has the know-how and motivational skills to help you move forward. Check it out at: http://workingwritersclub.com

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Today, I have a guest post from author, freelance writer, and writing coach Suzanne Lieurance.

3 Reasons Why Most People Who Say They Want to Write a Book Will Never Write One

By Suzanne Lieurance

Almost everyone has dreams of writing a book some day. Yet, for most people this will never become more than a dream. And thousands of others who do manage to START writing their book will give up midway through and never finish writing it. As a published author and a writing coach, I've discovered there are basically 3 reasons most writers give up on their dream of one day writing a book:

1. Wanna be authors think their book has to be one of the best books ever written.

This is a lot of pressure for any writer, much less a first time author. No one could measure up to this, so it's safer and easier to give up before ever starting. But the truth is, published authors simply try to write the very best book they can write. They don't worry about it being one of the best books ever written.

2. Wanna be authors figure they really don't have anything new and different to say that hasn't already been written about before in other books.

That old saying, "there is nothing new under the sun" is true. So published authors don't worry that someone else may have written a book about the same topic they wish to write about. Instead, they try to give their book a unique "spin" on the topic. That means they write about it in a somewhat unique way.

3. Wanna be authors think writing should be easy. If it isn't, that means they weren't meant to be a writer. 

When they start writing, and the writing becomes difficult, they figure they must not be cut out to be an author.
Writing is a craft and it is often just plain hard work even for the best of writers. In fact, good writing is usually good rewriting, so most of the well-known authors work hard at their writing. They write, then rewrite and rewrite until they get the work just right. If they stopped when the writing got difficult, they'd never publish anything either. As you can probably tell by now, each of these 3 reasons for giving up on writing a book is merely an excuse for not following through on a dream.

If you dream of writing a book someday, don't expect to write one of the best books ever written. Don't worry that you have nothing new to say. Just try to say it in a new way. And, most importantly, don't expect the writing to be so easy that there's nothing to it. Just keep plugging along and eventually you'll have a finished manuscript you can be proud of.

For instruction, tips, and advice to help you start and finish writing your book, join the The Working Writer's Club (http://workingwritersclub.com).
Suzanne Lieurance is a fulltime freelance writer, the author of 22 (at last count) published books, and the Working Writer's Coach.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Suzanne_Lieurance

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2 Comments on Want to Write a Book? Three Reasons Why You Won’t, last added: 12/14/2011

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As every writer knows, creating and increasing visibility is an essential part of the business. Whether you're writing and promoting books or you're a freelance writer, you need to be out there . . . it's never ending.

As we progress on our writing path, we gain insight into what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong. At least hopefully we learn. Sometimes, if we're lucky enough to have the guidance of a writing coach or mentor, we're actually told what might be amiss, or what steps we can take to work more effectively and profitability.

But, no matter how you come to the realization of certain steps you need to take, the most important thing is to actually take those steps.

This is something I've been working on lately. As with a lot of writers, I spin my wheels trying to be everywhere and do everything, but it's not an effective use of time or an effective way of accomplishing what you want to, and it's just plain tiring.

Fortunately, I've been reminded of what I need to do by my writing coach Suzanne Lieurance. I've worked with Suzanne in a couple of different clubs since 2008, and she knows her stuff.

A key to writing success is to have your major writing goals in place and to be focused. What tends to happen though is we forget what out actual goals are - we get sidetracked, or we keep adding more and more goals to our list. This doesn't work.

My three major goals for 2011 are:

1. Working on children's books for publication
2. Marketing my existing books
3. Growing my ghostwriting business

While I've been working somewhat on goals one and three, and working regularly on number three, I'm not being productive enough. The reason: I've added this, that, and the other thing to my list of goals, or just to my workload.

So, although it's the Fall, I'm going to be doing some Spring cleaning. Some of the tasks will be tough, but are absolutely necessary to streamline my workload toward productive and goal attaining strategies.

What tasks will I need to undertake to direct focus back on my major goals?

1. I'll be changing my KarenCioffi.com site to my children's author site. This will entail getting a more 'children's author like' website theme and focusing the site solely on me as a children's author.

2. Establishing this site as my sole writing and marketing information and services site. Since it's pretty well established as this, it won't take too much work - although, I do have a lot of article marketing links directed to KarenCioffi.com. To remedy this, I'll have to have a redirect page there letting folks know this is my primary freelancing site.

3. Eliminate non-productive and non-money-making jobs, and other extraneous goals that are diluting my major goals.

4. Absolutely make time to write children's books - my current WIP is a sequel to Walking Through Walls.

5. Look into school author visits; get the book marketing items I need; write a couple of focused articles on my book topics and post them to the individual book sites to generate more visibility for the books.

5. Possibly reduce the posts here to two times a week,  rather than three times

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Today is Part 2 of “Children’s Writing and Publishing Process - The Traditional Path”

The prior article focused on the writing aspect of writing for children to get published. The first step is to learn the craft and actually write. The second step is to have your work critiqued. The third step is to revise and edit until your manuscript is POLISHED.

If you missed Part 1, you can read it here:
http://www.karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com/2011/06/childrens-writing-and-publishing.html


Now, we can move on to Part 2’s focus: Submissions, a Contract and Sales, and a Career in Writing.

2. Submissions

Before you think about submitting your work anywhere, be sure you’ve completed the necessary steps in number one. You’re manuscript needs to be as polished as you can possibly get it.

Submissions can fall into two categories: those to publishers and those to agents. In regard to submitting to agents, in a Spring 2011 webinar presented by Writer’s Digest, agent Mary Kole advised to “research agents.” This means to find out what type of agent they are in regard to the genre they work with and the agent platform they provide: do they coddle their authors, do they crack the whip, are they aggressive, passive, involved, or complacent. Know what you’re getting into before querying an agent, and especially before signing a contract.

Here are a couple of sites you can visit to learn about agents:

http://agentquery.com
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/

The same advice works for submitting to publishers also. Research publishers before submitting to them. Know which genres of children’s books they handle and the type of storylines they’re looking for.

Whether submitting to a publisher or an agent, always follow the guidelines and always personalize the query. There may be times the guidelines do not provide the name of the editor to send the query to, but if you can find that information, use it.

According to Mary Kole, it’s also important to know how to pitch your story. This entails finding the story’s hook. Agents and publishers also want to know what the book’s selling points will be and what successful books it’s similar to. In addition, they will expect to be told what your marketing strategy will be. It’s a good idea to create an online presence and platform before you begin submissions; let the agents and publishers know you will actively market your book.

Along with the story’s hook, you need to convey: who your main character is and what he/she is about; the action that drives the story; the main character’s obstacle, and if the main character doesn’t overcome the obstacle, what’s at stake.

Ms. Kole recommends reading “the back of published books” to see how they briefly and effectively convey the essence of the story. This will give you an idea of how to create your own synopsis.

When querying, keep your pitch short and professional, and keep your bio brief and relevant. You will need to grab the editor or agent and make them want to read your manuscript.

3. A Contract and Book Sales

If you do your homework, you’re manuscript will eventually find a home. Don’t let initial rejection

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