How I Improved my Writing
This week, I decided I felt like sharing a laid-back story with all of you. If you're looking for a truly helpful post, sorry...this probably isn't it.
(I wrote this about two weeks in advance, by the way. I was on vacation - or will be on vacation, depending on how you look at this - but that's no excuse not to stay on top of things! Okay, maybe I'm just bored and it's only 11:00 at night. Stop judging me.)
(It only took me twelve minutes to write the rough draft of this, by the way. My fingers hurt.)
Ahem.
I thought it might be vaguely beneficial for you - and relaxing for me - to write about how I improved said writing incredibly quickly over the course of several months.
First, let me preface this with explaining how I personally write books. I tend to have one grand book looming over the ones I'm writing on Wattpad that I refer to as my "free writing book" (even though technically all of my books are free writing) or simply my "handwritten book." This is a book that I write out in composition notebooks and that I later type onto Wattpad. I have only published two of these types of novels on Wattpad (The Forsaken Prophecy and The Phoenix People) because I don't publish them until they are completely finished and at least mostly edited.
This particular story begins just as I was starting to write The Phoenix People back in October of 2016. (October? November? I can't quite remember. Heh, that unintentionally rhymed. Can you tell that I'm sleep-deprived yet?)
When I started The Phoenix People, I had two other writing projects going - So Actually, I'm Not Okay and The Strong Will Survive - and that's it. Looking back now, that seems insane - just two writing projects? What did I do with my free time?!
Anyway, that was around the same time that I first learned that Wattpad itself had several official accounts dedicated to various genres, and each of these accounts had a book with pretty regular contests in them. They promised exposure, practice, and interesting prompts. Since I had only been participating in the once-in-a-blue-moon sponsored contests, I was hooked.
I began entering myself in every single contest I came across. No joke. Regardless of the genre or prompt, I wrote a story for it, sometimes barely meeting the word requirement just to get the projects done. The writing of these stories completely filled my weekends to the point where I woke up, ate breakfast, sat down in front of my computer, and only finished everything late in the afternoon. Once, across all of my Wattpad accounts, I was working on eight or nine writing projects in various stages at once! But more on that later.
Finally, in May, I finished The Phoenix People. I had began to edit in earnest several weeks before, and I was appaled at how quickly I was going through Post-It notes in doing so - I was using a pack or so per week. I was finding numerous flaws with the book on each page.
I thought back over the past several months and finally realized - since I had entered myself in so many contests, I had gotten so much writing practice that I had improved phenomonally since beginning The Phoenix People. Therefore, when I was editing my book all those months later, I was looking upon the work of my (at the time) much less skilled self.
This makes sense of course, right? Well, before you run off to go find a bazillion contests to enter, keep reading.
Remember how I said that at one time I had about eight or nine projects going? I wasn't lying. You don't have to meticulously read this list, but if you want to fact-check me, you can find each and every one of these books across my various Wattpad accounts. They do exist. They are listed in no particular order.
The Phoenix People; So Actually, I'm Not Okay; The Death of a King; The Strong Will Survive; Every Summer Has a Story; We Will be Together for Never; The Dragon Princess; Battlefield; Iris.
That's nine projects. Now, two of those were simple editing projects, and one of them was applying prewritten edits to a prewritten manuscript and then transferring said manuscript onto Wattpad - but that's still a lot of work! I was working on all of these at once, trying to condense all of it into two days, Saturday and Sunday, out of habit from my busy school schedule, even though by now, it was summer vacation.
Finally, my breaking point arrived. I was losing interest in The Death of a King, The Dragon Princess, and Battlefield, but I still felt a deep obligation to my readers and the contests.
And because of it, I had a mental breakdown.
I had been in a bad mood for hours that day. At night, my mom asked what was going on, having picked up on my negative state of mind. As I began explaining how I was far behind on all of my writing projects, I broke down and started crying from the stress of it all.
I had considered and still do consider myself a person who, strangely, thrives under pressure. But that much pressure cracked me.
Encouraged by my mother, I took a temporary break from the books I simply didn't want to write. Eventually, however, I finished The Death of a King, and the next chapter of Battlefield is being published this Sunday. I plan to complete The Dragon Princess tomorrow if not the day after. I'm back on my feet.
But now I know not to take on so much work. Sure, entering contests gets you exposure and practice - but sometimes, you have to ask yourself, at what cost?
This turned into a rambling post, and for that, I'm sorry. I suppose what I want you to ultimately take away from this is:
Entering contests is a fast and sure-fire way to improve your writing, especially if the genre or prompt uniquely challenges you. But beware biting off more than you can chew. Know your limits.
I'm sorry for the boredom-induced, rambling post, and I hope that even after this, you stick around until next weekend's guest author. I hope to see you then! :)
