I get occasional requests from people who want to start a blog, get exposure as a writer, or just get their writing noticed and published somewhere. Here is the best advice I’ve ever seen on how to become a better wrtier. (Thanks to Copyblogger.com for the graphic.)
Published by candacemoody
Candace’s background includes Human Resources, recruiting, training and assessment. She spent several years with a national staffing company, serving employers on both coasts. Her writing on business, career and employment issues has appeared in the Florida Times Union, the Jacksonville Business Journal, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and 904 Magazine, as well as several national publications and websites. Candace is often quoted in the media on local labor market and employment issues.
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Your Work, Your Way 
Indeed, those are 10 nifty points on The Art of Writing. How do I know this? I plan to become a self-published author, followed by finding a regional publisher or national publisher, for my work. At present, I write two Blogs: 1.) The Writer Interview 2.) The Music Muse Interview.
A major point of emphasis today in the field of writing is Building A Platform, before you are ever published. What that means is finding and building a reading audience. The larger your audience, the more likely a publisher is to consider you for publication. Not that this means, a publisher will publish you. If you have a million people reading your Blog, you have a real chance of getting a publisher’s attention, however. If you have zero readers, no matter how well you write, a publisher will look at your work as an uphill battle to sell. Publishing, in many respects is a numbers game, while writing is about creating the best product you can for the right audience for your manuscript.
Here is a link to one of my Blogposts at The Writer Interview, which I invite you to read:
http://writerinterview.blogspot.com/2012/07/building-writer-blog.html
You are welcome to bookmark and read other posts. I encourage you to do so. If you wish to read my music Blog, simply click on my name above.
The Writer Interview, to date, is a non-monetized Blog consisting of interviews with published and unpublished authors, book reviews, posts on Blogging, Building A Writer Platform, my own short stories and poetry, and other writing related posts. I am taking something of a maverick attitude, so you will want to get to know more mainstream writers, as well. Part of that maverick attitude is a choice to NOT be on Facebook or Google+, two of the best-known Social Networks. Even-so, I concede both are viewed as keys to building a wide audience, as a writer.
It is important to understand, a Blog is one important, though time-consuming way to build an adudienc. It is also a way to see if you can handle the ups and downs of writing; particularly if you Blog on a platform which provides reader statistics. I have been Blogging since December of 2005, first on Yahoo from 2005-2010, at which time they shutdown their Blogs. About April or May of 2009, I began a move to Blogger or Blogspot.come, where I chose to concentrate on my two main areas of interest, writing and music. I created two Blogs, as a result. Focusing on a topic you have a strong interest in is a major key to being a successful Blogger. You will need to measure success in a variety of ways, if you choose to Blog.
One way is the 10 Nifty Points On The Art of Writing, which is “to write.” This is easier said than done. I literally suffered from problems with the blog platform to having to replace my computer, while unemployed, which kept me from posting regularly until late 2011, so sitting down to write is only one of many potential writing issues. However, your first success is to write regularly. You may not draw an audience of readers before writing a 100 or more posts, such as I have done at The Writer Interview. My statistics last month were humble, about 45 pageviews per day. Writing on writing is a narrow topic of interest to the world, I do little or no marketing of this Blog, and I am not Search Engine optimized, as the saying goes. On the other hand, my music blog is slowly growing into a success story. Last month my statistics were 144 pageviews per day (more than triple my writer blog, yet I am the same Blogger for both). To date in September I am averaging 109 pageviews per day. Music is a popular topic, with a wide audience interest to the world, I market this Blog to people, when and where possible, and I am more Search Engine optimized.
Blogging and becoming a published writer are two different, although related areas of writing. I hope I have offered you evidence The Writer Interview is worth taking the time to read, for more indepth ideas on writing and finding writing links. What Candace offered is true, but today, writing is far more than just writing. However, you will ALWAYS have to start as I did here; sit down, then write, write, write. As my lack of brevity shows, editing, editing, editing is another major aspect of writing. Thank you Candace and anyone who follows me to The Writer Interview. (Even posting a comment here is not without WordPress problems or bugs, as I like to call them.)
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