A Hop, Skip, and a Jump! By Linda S. Glaz

             I’m often asked what the most important things are when it comes to being a writer, and the answer is quite simple.

WRITE!

There is no other answer that keeps you more on track. Even if your grammar and punctuation are poor, the more you write, the better you will get as with any craft. Of course, those online courses and writing organizations don’t hurt, so keep studying as well.

In other words…hop to it. There’s no story that writes itself in spite of what someone might tell you. “It was meant to be written so much that it practically wrote itself.” Bravado even if the writer believes it. But the fact is, no story writes itself.

Never skip the rules. As you learn more, you will oftentimes break them, but you must know what they are in order to skip around them, correct? Don’t skip a wonderful plot with twists and turns that no one expects. Don’t skip getting us deep into the characters’ POVs. We want to be invested in their lives…their stories.

Jump right into the action! Nothing like a story that takes a reader’s breath away on page one, leaving them wondering what will happen on page two. If you slowly ease the reader in, he or she might not turn from page one. And your entire goal is to keep the story moving so that the reader cannot put it down.

See how easy it is?

Just a hop, skip, and a jump from having the next bestseller if…if you don’t quit!