Valerie O'Brien

My thoughts...

• It is so important to be passionate about your writing.
• It is also very important to read as many books as possible. Become an obsessive reader. Absorb the different writing styles of various authors and you will eventually find your own.  Writing is a craft quite like painting which needs to be honed & practiced, in order to perfect.
• “The Hook” – Use your hook to engage the reader, open your first chapter with a hook which will leave them wanting to read more.
  Your unique selling point – get one, it is important to have some feature which will make you stand out from the rest, from pitch to publication.
• Always keep a notebook handy. Listen to peoples conversations; read the papers and use the words which you feel will fit a particular scene. Write all of your ideas down even if you have to amalgamate them to make sense later that week. There’s no point in having your ideas all floating around in your head. The key is to put them on paper.   Scribble, scribble, scribble.
• Aim to write at least 500 words a day. Stay disciplined and motivated though this is not always easy. But if you keep putting it off, it will never get done.
• Get into a good routine. I like to write in the mornings before my kids come home from school. Sometimes I get 500 words while other days I fair much better. The key is to sit down, turn on your computer and open the page. This is the worst part but if you get this far, you’re on your way.  
• “The Block”. If you get the block, go and do something different, take a walk, go to the beach, simply go out with friends and do not focus on it. Get inspired and this little bump will be behind you in no time. If you focus on it you will magnify it. So get past it by focusing on positive things.
• Edit, edit, edit. I have finally come to understand and can I say enjoy editing. Although it is still quite horrifying to realise in the earlier drafts of your work that yes your cherry blossom trees had leaves in December and that your circular barrel was in fact an oil drum. But a great editor can transform a good piece of work into an amazing piece of work. So it’s all about the editing.
• How do you get published? Have faith in your ability to write. Believe in yourself and never give up. The difference in those who succeed as opposed to those who do not is often that they hung on a little longer.
• “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have left go” - William Feather
• Finally polish your manuscript and send a hard copy off in the post office, where dreams begin........