HowToDoThings.com Writing & Literature

How To Make a Living as a Writer

L.500 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:30:13 -0500

How To Find the Time to Write

Kidwriter — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:50:36 -0500

If writing is not your main profession and you have other responsibilities (and most of us do!), trying to make time to write is hard. Of the 500+ students I teach yearly, from most I hear the same thing – I just don’t have time to write! But do you have time to watch television, talk on the phone, surf the net? Could you give up one of these time-consuming activities to focus on your writing? Ultimately, it means that in order to become a published writer, you must make sacrifices – something no one wants to hear!

How To Write Freelance

Kidwriter — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:51:18 -0500

You don't need a college degree to become a freelance writer. It's not a job for the weak of heart. If you don't like to write, this is not the career for you. But if you are passionate about writing and you're knowledgeable on a particular subject, then freelancing might just be for you!

How To Spin Your Life Story

aesta — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:45:10 -0500

For many, life is a series of quiet adventures and most people have a story to tell. However, most of us have never really thought much about being a storyteller, about organizing our experience and really thinking through what we have learned about ourselves, about our families…about life. We think that unless there are great events with characters like Indiana Jones, no one is interested. Wrong.

Many great stories are about ordinary people doing ordinary things, but written in interesting ways. When we write our own story, we really get a chance to look for meaning in small events and when we learn how to tell the story, it helps others think about their own lives, too. Start with the following:

How To Improve Handwriting

3100 Caldera Blvd — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:34:47 -0500

With a few simple steps and a few changes you can improve your handwriting. As with most things you may have to practice before you have wonderful handwriting worth talking about, but it can be done. Even the sloppiest writer can make it into something neat and legible.

How To Copy Edit

susannahquinn — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:15:52 -0500

If you’re producing professional documents – whether you’re a copywriter, PR, small business owner, marketing manager, press officer or other media professional – you should copy edit any text you write before submitting it to clients or potential clients. Copy editing improves the quality of your writing, reassures clients that you’re a capable business expert, and gives whatever you’ve written more credibility and impact.

Here are the nine ‘how to copy edit’ rules for business writers:

How To Use an Ideas Journal to Enhance Your Creative Writing

dangoodwin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:25:01 -0500

Creative ideas are the raw material from which all creative projects are built. Without any ideas, you have nowhere to begin to write from, no starting point, no direction to focus your creative writing talents.

So it follows that one of the most effective ways you can enhance your writing and let your full creative writing talent come to the fore is to keep a ready supply of great ideas to develop.

Here are 3 important steps to using an Ideas Journal to keep your writing ideas flowing:

How To Write Your Way Out of the Grip of Writer’s Block

dangoodwin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:54:04 -0500

We’ve all struggled at times with our writing, and wondered not just where the next poem, song or chapter of our novel will come from, but where the next WORD will come from. Or if it would come at all!

Commonly known as writer’s block, it’s easy to demonize this state and give it far more power and influence over your writing - and your ability to write – than it actually has.

Here is an effective 5-step plan to help you write your way out of writer’s block, if you find yourself struggling to write freely again:

How To Write a Movie: Part Three

lwgray — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:24:13 -0600

Now that you've gotten your act together in screenwriting part 1, and read about brainstorming in part 2, here is part 3 of the Screenwriting Course. As you might have guessed by now, I am assuming that you are reading, or have read other "How To Write Screenplay" books. So I am not spelling out every single detail of the process, but then nor am I assuming you know anything. Essentially what I want to do is to put the theory into perspective for you. I do not want it to hinder you. So many people dismiss the theory because they feel it interrupts their creative flow, but at the same time their creative flow never produces anything that can find a market. But if used incorrectly, the theory will start you writing with the confidence and passion required. If you are too formulaic, nobody will be interested.

How To Rejuvenate Your Creative Writing With Writing Prompts

dangoodwin — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:57:28 -0600

At times when you struggle to write fluently, you might wonder not where the next chapter of your novel or poem in your anthology will come from, but where your next SENTENCE will come from.

Creative writing prompts are a great tool to rejuvenate your creative writing and get it flowing once more. A prompt is simply a phrase or idea you can use as a starting point from which to write.

It’s like being a food lover and getting a lift to an “All You Can Eat” restaurant for your favorite food. The writing prompt isn’t the food itself -- it’s simply the ride to get you there. Once you’re inside, you need no encouragement in how to eat! Here then are 5 of the top ways that writing prompts can rejuvenate YOUR creative writing: