Cross This Line and You’re Dead and Other Writing Tips

My first writing job was for a small small publishing company that published magazines for consumer electronics and major appliance retailers. Writing for trade magazines is not as glamorous as writing for consumer magazines but the pay is a heck of a lot better.

It was one of those places where the writers did the work of two times as many people. We pounded copy like crazed monkeys including nights and Saturdays when deadlines were on top of us. I wrote my ass off and I learned a lot, thanks to my working for a particularly skillful editor. I also learned to write quickly.

I’ve been banging out copy since and not a day goes by that I’m satisfied with my work. I know I can always do better. It’s a disease.

I’m sorry to be so long winded. I’ve already violated one of rules I learned about writing and that is get to the point quickly. I’m in a reflective mood. If you want to go read someone else’s blog, I’ll understand.

Here are 11 rules about writing as a profession I’ve picked up along the way.

1. Write everyday, even when you don’t feel like it. Writing takes practice like everything else that requires skill.

2. If you don’t have a deadline, make one up. Deadlines have a way of focusing your mind. If it weren’t for deadlines, I wouldn’t get anything done.

3. If you have an deadline, move it back a day or two just in case something comes up.

From Answers.com:

[Deadline] began as a real line, drawn in the dirt or marked by a fence or rail, restricting prisoners in Civil War camps. They were warned, “If you cross this line, you’re dead.” To make sure the boundary was not overlooked, guards and prisoners soon were calling it by its bluntly descriptive name, the dead line.

4. Writer’s block is for amateurs. Pro writers have a top hat full of illusions to spark their writing. They write headlines and leads in their heads when they’re not working to use when the right time comes. They read a lot so they have references and styles they can draw from. They keep swipe files of good ideas to steal (not plagiarize). And when all else falls, they start writing whatever comes to mind, because they know the heavy-lifting is done when they rewrite.

Here’s a lead I thought of the other day while on my way to the dentist’s office: “What if a UFO landed on Earth and when the head alien stepped out, it asked for you by name?” I’m not sure what I would use that one for but you never know.

5. Read all you can about the craft of writing. I read Stephen King’s On Writing, although I don’t read his novels. I put a lot of stock into into Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, which you can read free on Bartleby.

6. Read the works of other writers. I don’t read fiction all that often but I’ve read nearly all of Elmore Leonard’s novels, because I learn so much about writing. Fiction writers might like Leonard’s “Writers on Writing,” which ran in The New York Times in 2001.

7. Rewrite and then rewrite some more. I harp on that more than anyone needs to hear, so I won’t get into it now.

8. Know when to quit. If you’re like me, you’ll never be satisfied. Sooner or later, you have to set your piece free and move onto the next thing on your list.

9. Build a writing reference library in hard copy and bookmarks on online. One book today’s copywriters and bloggers should have is a current edition of the AP Stylebook. I also have a very old English grammar and composition book I rely on. I can find a lot of the same info on line, but I like leafing through my hard-copy books because I never know what I’ll come across.

10. Learn the rules of grammar and composition but don’t be afraid to break them. Writing is much more than subject-verb agreement, when to use who and whom and not hyphenating adverbs in compound adjectives. It’s also about rhythm and grace. Write in a way that comes naturally to you.

11. Write everday. That rule is so important it deserves a second mention.