Making a Career of Professional Writing

Four years ago I was in my final year of my Journalism degree when Chris Labonte, acquiring editor of Douglas & McIntyre Publishing, came to my university to give a lecture. Back then I was the arts & entertainment editor for the school paper and I was all over the story. For two hours he described the slush piles that a writer must wade though if they were going to succeed the painful process of getting published. I should have walked away frustrated and convinced I would never make it but instead I left inspired. Less than six months later I had written my first book, attended a writer's conference and even had requests to see my manuscript. Nothing ended up coming from the first novel but I learned so much and have learned so much since and I think a lot of the credit goes to Mr. Labonte.

His top ten pieces of advice to new writer were:

1. Commit. Do it and do it now.
2. Write a lot. You don't find your voice until you have written a million words. Read a lot. If you don't like reading you're going to have a hard time.
3. Start to think like a writer. Carry a journal to jot down ideas.
4. Observe like a writer. Even walking down the street can turn into a creative narrative.
5. Write everyday. Let it be a day of good writing or bad writing as long as it's a day of writing.
6. It's important to get feedback. Build writing relationships.
7. Stick with it.
8. Learn about the business.
9. learn to market yourself.
10. Take the long view. You are building a career, but act now and make sure you are leaving time to renew, refresh and review.

Without even realizing it, until I found this article I wrote, I emulated all the advice he gave into my writing routine. I write and read a lot even when it sucks. I learn a lot from bad writing and even more from bad reading. Sometimes identifying what I don't like in a book helps me to avoid it in my own. I've written well over a million words by now so hopefully I have a voice that's all my own. I've spent many years researching the business of writing and am using this blog specifically to market myself. So maybe four years later I'm on the write (get it? write instead of right!) track. I know at the very least I've followed step one: I'm committed.