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how much this is actually worth.

Read, read, read
Like I mentioned above, get as many books as you can on writing. Make sure one of them is a style manual. Get some on publishing or self-publishing if you plan on going that route. The writing books are especially important since they have many great exercises to help you improve on your writing skills. Again, back to that "not easy" thing for a second: make sure you don't just buy the books and stick them on the shelf hoping they will magically improve your writing. You actually have to read them and do all the exercises in them.

A word about so-called tools of the writer's trade
Don't be suckered into all of the snake oil selling panderers out there who write articles on the pretense of offering you advice on writing and then give you a bunch of links to "must'-have" or "I use this all the time" software, e-books, or seminars that they are affiliate marketers for. These tend to be overpriced, barely functional, or of dubious benefit at best. These "experts" could care less about you and whatever you are trying to accomplish as a budding writer, as long as it ends up with you clicking on the link and buying the product at the other end for them to get a royalty. Fah!

All you really need are your mind and your pencil, typewriter, or word processing software and this last one need not be the most expensive on the market although usually you get more features out of the more expensive programs but at this stage of the game, you don't really need extra features. Just something that works.

The key thing is to get some knowledge from books or classes and then practice, practice, practice. If your editing skills stink, you will benefit greatly from any number of reputable books written on the subject, try searching for them on amazon.com. Certainly, participating in a workshop or class will help since you will have the wealth of knowledge that the teacher possesses and exposure of your writing to them and likely the rest of the class. Plus you'll be practicing your writing and picking up great tips at the same time.

Don't waste your time or money on online junk promising to make you a "six-figure a year author in 10-days, guaranteed".

Just keep on writing
Once you've had a bit of instruction either from a book or in a workshop, just make sure you keep writing. This is where the "not easy" portion of my earlier statement really kicks in: you have to keep writing.

Make it a point everyday to practice writing. Whether you write a story about something your kids did or you saw or perhaps a fictitious product review of an item picked out of a catalog at random, it doesn't matter as long as you practice.

You can try setting a daily goal of writing to fill one side of a sheet of paper and then, as your skill and determination improve, increase that to both sides. Perhaps set a goal of 1000 words in two hours or something like that.

The more you write, the better you get at it. Make sure you have your class teachers check your writing out to get some pointers from them or post them to a writer's forum or blog for feedback.

Whatever you do, don't get discouraged and keep on writing, writing, writing!

Learn more about this author, Craig Bickford.
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