As this blog approaches its 11th birthday, I can see a certain pattern in my posts. Each year at around this time, in response to reader enquiries, I write a ‘how to achieve your writing goals this year’. I particularly liked this one, which is now five years old but the advice is evergreen.
This year, I decided I’d wrap it all up a bit more personally, and make it all about you and me.
Here are five ways I can help you achieve your writing goals this year
Listen to my podcast
From 2014-2021, I co-hosted, with Valerie Khoo, 462 episodes of the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast.
We have been talking weekly about all aspects of writing for several years now, and our author interviews each episode are a real highlight (see my favourites from 2020 here).
Whether you are just dipping your toes into the world of writing or are wondering what the next step might be, you will find an ‘aha’ moment in every episode – I know I always do! Be warned, it’s a deep dive into the well of knowledge and we’ve been told it’s addictive!
You’ll find all the episodes of So You Want To Be A Writer here.
Valerie is now flying solo with So You Want To Be A Writer, while I’m now co-hosting Your Kid’s Next Read podcast with Megan Daley. If you’re a children’s author, or a parent/carer/teacher/bookseller/publisher or other interested party, don’t miss it!
You’ll find all the episodes of Your Kid’s Next Read here.
Join a community
One of the best things you can do in the pursuit of writing goals is to find other writers who will understand what you’re trying to do.
The So You Want To Be A Writer Facebook community is a group of likeminded and generous souls always there to chat about writing, answer questions where they can, provide moral support through the process and have a laugh. Join here.
If you are writing for children, I’d also recommend joining the Your Kid’s Next Read Facebook community, which I admin along with Megan Daley and Allison Rushby. Here you’ll find an engaged community of parents, teachers, librarians, booksellers, authors and others who are interested in putting the right book into the hands of young readers.
Note that there is a very strong NO SELF-PROMOTION rule in this group, so it’s not the place to promote your book.
Why then would I suggest you join?
Because it’s a brilliant place for an inside look into what readers (or their parents/carers) are recommending and what they’re looking for. One of the key pieces of the success puzzle for any author is understanding the market and the target audience, and this group takes you right inside it. Join here.
Read this blog
As I mentioned, I’ve been blogging here for nearly 11 years, with a huge number of posts about writing, publishing, editing and more. Chances are that if you’ve got a question about writing, I’ve answered it here. Try searching for what you’re after.
Here, for instance, is a selection of posts about editing.
You’ll find writing tips (for adults and for kids) here.
Or go here for other suggestions and starting points.
Try a course
When I get enough questions about any particular subject, I write a course for the Australian Writers’ Centre on that subject.
If you’re struggling to find time to write, try this one.
If you’d like to get some words written RIGHT NOW, this 30-day bootcamp is for you.
And if you have kids aged 9-14 who love writing, or who’d love to write better, my Creative Writing Quest For Kids was developed just for them.
Read a book
Around 300 episodes into our podcast and 20+ years into our friendship, Valerie Khoo and I decided to write a book together. SO YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER: HOW TO GET STARTED (WHILE YOU STILL HAVE A DAY JOB) is the distillation of our combined knowledge and experience.
We’re all about practical advice delivered with a healthy pinch of inspiration and a dose of motivation. Plus, we combed through hundreds of hours of our podcast interviews to bring you the best tips we could find from a wide range of authors, from international bestsellers to debut authors who remember very clearly what it’s like to be where you are now.
Read the reviews and buy it here.
There you have it: five ways I can help you achieve your writing goals this year.
If you want to keep up with new writing posts and courses, join my newsletter here. Occasionally, I give away a one-hour Skype coaching session via the newsletter so keep an eye out for that.
If you’ve got a question I haven’t addressed anywhere, email me via the contact form on this site and I’ll look at answering it here in a blog post or on the podcast.
Best of luck with your 2021 writing goals!
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of two epic middle-grade adventure series, The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher, and a new ‘almost history’ detective series called the Maven & Reeve Mysteries (you’ll find book #1 THE FIRE STAR here).
You can find out more about me here, and more about my books here.
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