by Kathy Trower

Created on: September 12, 2010   Last Updated: September 13, 2010

"Write like you mean it" is the phrase one of my writing mentors used often. She was an accomplished and very published writer, who put her heart and soul into every article that she wrote.

She was a very hard task master. I used her to edit my articles and she willingly critiqued . One of her most used phrases was "write like you mean it.".

I found out that you cannot write a good article unless you feel that you are captured by the piece. Citing references and doing very little research does not make a good article. You have to experience the piece of work. If this means, interviewing others who have gone through the subject, then it has to be through their eyes.

You have to believe that you are doing the article, not for payment but  for the sake of knowledge for others. Once you start writing solely for the money, then you lose some of your writer's soul. You have to feel that you want to write about this subject, for the sake of letting people know about it.

If interviewing a person helps to put you in the scope of the subject, then by all means interview two or three people. You have to be like Peter Pan in the Disney film, "you have to believe." If you believe, then you will do a good job in telling the story.

A well written piece is a laurel to a writer. If you can re-read your piece and feel good about it, then you have done a good job. Self-worth is a great feeling for a writer. You have to believe in yourself, thus authenticating your existence as a good writer.

There are many writers, but a good writer is in a class by himself. Anyone can write a piece, but a good writer does more than write. He interests his reader in not only reading that piece, but anything else he writes. A writer has to sell himself, both to a reader and a publisher. The only way to do that is to show that you can write good, interesting and factual pieces.

Writers can make themselves "real" by reading other good works.  My mentor told me to read what others have written, not necessarily about the subject of my piece, but just their style, etc.

Real writers can earn money by believing in the story or article. When you finish an article, you should be proud of your work. Writing is the heart of the matter. Good writing is the way to garner readers to be your audience.

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