I Love to Write Day and My Best Writing Advice
November 15, 2008 by Lillie
Do you love to write? So do I, and today is our day, I Love to Write Day. According to the official Web site:
November 15, 2008 will mark the seventh I Love To Write Day, a grassroots effort to have people of all ages practice their writing skills. Created by Delaware author John Riddle, I Love To Write Day is an opportunity for people of all ages to write something: a poem, an essay, a letter to the editor, a short story, start a novel, finish a novel – the possibilities are endless!
This post is filed under Writing and Publishing Advice because I’m going to share the two best pieces of advice I can give to any aspiring writer:
- Read, read, read!
- Write, write, write!
Writers are readers first. Why would anyone want to write if they didn’t love reading? You’ll learn a lot about writing if you read a lot. Certainly read writing how-to books, but also read poetry, creative nonfiction, history, biography, fiction—a romantic mystery titled Dream or Destiny comes to mind. 
You will learn as much from observing other writers’ techniques as you will from reading about those techniques in how-to books.
At some point, though, you have to stop reading and start writing. I Love to Write Day is a perfect day to write. If you’re already writing—maybe you’re halfway through National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)—be sure to write today.
If you haven’t started, take the first step. Begin a journal. Get a jump-start with a writing prompt. Write a letter to a loved one. Compose a poem or start a book.
What did (or will you) write today?
Well, Lillie. Although I love to write, but I’m not a talented writer, so I will pass this task lol
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Ah, wilson, you didn’t pass. You wrote three comments on my blog—that counts as writing.
Thanks for the battle cry! Discouragement aside, I will write, write, write!
Craig,
Good for you! Start writing and keep on writing.
I love to write. Today I spend almost a day to create an article and the posted to ezine articles. And see what happened…
They said, the article is already with them… Then I tried to check why they said this. I tried copyscape.com and found that some of the sentences were matching with some articles placed on 8 sites. None of them was ezine…
That discouraged me why ezine did this to me…
Then I found this blog to post my view. Thanks for keeping the spirit of writing
Gasyoun,
I’m sorry you had a bad experience with your article but hope you won’t let that discourage you from writing.
Sometimes writers inadvertently repeat things they’ve found in their research. One way to avoid this is when taking notes from research to write the article to be sure to note when you copy something directly. A writer may think he wrote down a note about the article when in fact he copied something directly. This can happen most easily when there is a time lag between doing the research and writing the article. Also the more research a writer does, the harder it is to remember whether a note is a summary of information or a direct quote. Recording whether or not the information is a quote in notes helps prevent this problem.
Then writing the article, the writer has to be careful to present the information in an original way. Beginning writers often find this difficult but get better with practice. Ideas can be combined and presented in a different order, and the writer can use different words to express the information.
As I said in the post, keep on writing and you will get better and better.
Good advice, although I must say it might be difficult to follow. Reading and writing takes a lot of time and effort especially for people who are not inclined to do so. But for people like us who love to read and write, it comes naturally.
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Yes, reading and writing do take a commitment of time and effort. I wouldn’t encourage anyone who wasn’t inclined to do it, but sometimes people who love it need a little nudge.
That is very sound advice. Reading is very helpful but like you mentioned I’d just recommend starting to write. Initially it can seem like a struggle to make sentences flow naturally without putting quite a bit of thought into them but it does definitely get easier the more you write.
Yes, the more you write, the easier it is. Many people find it hard to get started, but you can’t do anything unless you start.
I had no idea I missed I love to write day. But I guess it’s okay, because I feel that way almost any day of the year!
Thanks for sharing this. I’m marking my calendar for next year!
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Lisa,
Every day can be I Love to Write Day for some of us, but it’s nice to have a reminder once a year. And for many people who want to write but haven’t got in the habit of it, this is a good reminder to get started.
Thanks for the encouragement Lillie.
As far as writing I have good and bad days, the hard part is getting through those bad days and not letting that mood carry over. Sometimes I tend to beat myself up mentally for not being productive enough on those bad days. But I have noticed that the more I write the fewer bad days I have
Mark,
You made two important points: the more you write, the fewer bad days you will have; and it’s important not to let the occasional bad day get you down or stop your writing the next day.
You know what’s so interesting is that I have always known this by experience but never thought about how to put it in words, but you’ve summed it up beautifully. I love to write because I love to read! Unreal. What I’ve found is that reading a lot makes you a better writer. Almost by default, you just pick up the nuances of style and proper communication through reading, and it just has a way of transferring (by osmosis, I guess) into your own writing style. Good stuff.
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M.S.,
Being exposed to good writing—and not-so-good writing—in our reading does help us learn what works and what doesn’t, and thus helps us develop our own writing style. I’ve never met a serious writer who wasn’t also a serious reader.
It´s a funny thing with writing. So many combinations of words have been used, but still you can always make new ones. That´s what makes writing an art
Miss Gaver,
With the infinite number and combinations of words, it’s strange that we often say the same things over and over again.
Yes the two important tasks of a writer is reading and writing but reading good materials will only serve a lot.
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I’m not sure whether you’re saying that reading only good materials is worthwhile or that reading is only good to a point.
If you’re saying that reading only good materials is worthwhile, I think that reading good materials gives us the best examples. However, sometimes reading something bad makes us understand the good because we learn what not to do.
If you’re saying that reading is only good to a point then you have to start writing, you’re absolutely right.
Actually I mean reading is good only to a point. In my opinion no material can be bad as such because in every bad material you can find some points which are extremely relevant. But obviously not every points it discussed. I think this happens because there is no hard & fast rule to decide good and bad…the material you find bad may be very good to somebody else.
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Thanks for clarifying what you meant. You’re right that reading—and writing—are subjective. What one person thinks is great another thinks is junk.
The only part that i am into writing regularly is my cute & lovely “Secret Diary” that knows all about me.Thanks about sharing this post & making me smile once again by making me think about my writings once again
Your “Secret Diary” is an excellent place to write. There are many benefits of keeping a journal, one of which is improving your writing.
Dang, I missed I Love to Write Day! Sure is a day for everything now. I wish I had the confidence to start a diary of my own…guess there’s nothing stopping me and I just have to buck up and do it! Thanks for the inspiration. Now I have poems, old stories, and plots from the past all running through my head again!
The beauty of a diary or journal is that no one ever has to see it, so it doesn’t matter how bad it is.
That should give you confidence—you can’t do it wrong! Start jotting down those poems, stories, and plots.
If you make yourself write something every day, you will get in the habit in a few weeks. If you can’t think of anything to write that day, just write, “I can’t think of anything to write.” Somehow just the act of getting thoughts—even “I can’t do it” thoughts—from your head to paper or screen starts freeing up your mind and you come up with more ideas.
You don’t have to do much. Tell yourself you will write five minutes or write one paragraph, just enough to get you started. Soon you’ll be writing longer and more.
I’ve always been intruiged by the ‘romance’ that surrounds writing and being a writer. It pretty much lends itself to the mystque of centuries of writers starving for their art.
Dedication and a little talent!
Starving for your art may sound romantic, but I don’t think it’s a lot of fun to actually do it! Most writers don’t make a living at writing, but hopefully most don’t starve.
I am listening to your advice. Although I enjoy writing on my blog I really find it hard to write articles. It has been a real struggle but I have been writing them
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Jana,
Good for you for working at something that is a struggle for you. But remember, a blog post is basically an article, so if you’re writing blog posts, you’re already writing articles. Maybe realizing that will make it easier for you to write articles other than blog posts.
After reading this, I was inspired to write a new blog post. I have an article ready to submit to an ezine but I’ve been agonizing over the title.
I find that if I schedule some time every day to write, that it becomes more natural.
Thanks for the encouragement…
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Andy,
when you set time aside every day to write.
Congratulations on moving forward with your writing. I think you will find that writing becomes easier, more natural, and even addictive
I enjoy reading much more then writing. I like to leave writing in the hands of the professionals.
We professional writers are always glad to have readers. Thanks for being one.
So here is another one who loves writing-Yes i am talking about myself.But i don’t really feel that i will ever publish anything i write, but i would really like to do so.
Whether or not you ever publish anything, if you love to write, you should write—letters, a journal, a blog, anything.
Yes Lillie, you right – a good writer (in an ordinary meaning of this word) should be literate a great deal, thus should have read a lot before he starts writing.
But I think there is something more important than just literacy – an independent thinking and ability to reflect on surrounding us real world in a special, unique way.
That’s it
Thanks Guy
Guy,
Interesting idea, and I think you’re right!
Hmm… Writing can really make you vvulnerable. You know, in the beginning, when getting starting, you ask your friends for advice on your writing… How can you be sure that they are honest? A few of my friends have asked me what I think of their writing, and it´s difficult to tell them that it sucks…
Toppgaver (if you used YourName@Keyword, I could address you by name, and you would still get your keyword link),
Friends and family are probably the worst people to ask for opinions on your writing. They usually don’t know good writing from bad in the first place. Also, they don’t want to hurt your feelings, so they’re tempted to say nice things even if they don’t think the writing is good. Or if they are jealous of you, they may say bad things even if they think the writing is good.