What Does It Take For One To Become A Writer?

(Step 1) Mastering the craft

            Writing as a whole comes down to that one most important thing, mastering the craft. Being able to properly express yourself through words puts you on the right track, but being able to grammatically and structurally write well puts you in the fast lane.

(Step 2) Practice

            If you believe anyone can be a writer, take that thought completely out of your mind because it takes a lot more than a Microsoft document and typing on keys to make a person a writer. One must be proficient in whatever skill they may hold dear to him/her to truly be happy and confident in what they spend their time creating. Writing is no different: practice, practice and practice is needed to get stronger and more fluent.

 (Step 3) Find your style of writing

            How do you feel most comfortable writing? Are you a person that likes hard core and straightforward facts? Maybe there is a fun side to you that likes to be silly. If so, don't be afraid to share with others. Some people treasure their thoughts and believe that by expressing it in opinion pieces. Others prefer creative, fantasy writing styles. Discovering where you fall will help you focus more on knowing who you are as a writer, which eventually helps build your confidence in your own writing.

(Step 4) Check, double check and triple check your work

Editing your work comes down to intense concentration, making sure you applied the right word here or there and placing periods and commas in the right places. Check spelling as you read your work out loud because spell-check doesn't catch everything. Pay attention to what is being written because maybe you meant to type a word you had in mind but you made a mistake by spelling another word that is spelled correctly. Then you realize the word makes no sense in the sentence. The more focused a writer you are by catching your own mistakes, the more reliant and saleable you are. It's like fast food; say McDonalds never screws up your order, of course you will keep buying food from them because you have nothing to complain about. The same goes for a writer if your editor has little to edit on your daily assignments, the more pleased he will be, and the longer you will have your job.

 (Step 5) Don't be afraid to share your work

            Every writer goes through a phase where they want to lock themselves away to get better work done. However, with that isolation you become nervous for others to read your work. Also, insecurities can cause you to hold back sharing too. Think! Think! Think! is all I'm going to say because if you choose to hold back on something that could possibly be amazing in someone else's eyes, you have just missed out on receiving compliments on your work. Not only is it nice to receive compliments but also it's nice to see your work published in any way, shape or form. Seeing your name in bold letters next to your article puts a smile on your face and many times after that, you will learn to embrace it.

(Step 6) Branch out

This is one of the most important steps, so take what I say seriously. Some writers limit themselves when it comes to certain areas of writing because they feel "that's it, I found my place in the world." It never hurts to keep expanding your horizons and writing about things that you may have found boring. Again, think! How would you possibly know that something is not for you unless you tried it? If you did and then you absolutely hate it still, now that is a different story.