Write from the heart. Don't be dismayed by rejections. Discover your voice.
These are tips offered by William Bernhardt, Ron J. Jackson Jr. and Cheri Fuller, the featured authors during "An Afternoon with Oklahoma Authors" from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Best of Books. They have written at least 75 books, as well as many other shorter stories.
You will have a chance to talk to the featured authors as well as the other six authors who will be featured during the quarterly event. They also will be signing their books, which will be offered for sale at the event.
All three have taught writing in their career, with William writing books on the subject and Cheri co-founding a special conference for beginning writers.
Here are their tips that are written in their own words by each of the authors:
1) Write every day.
2) Write for the audience, not for yourself.
3) Write from the heart.
When you get rejections, don’t be dismayed. And don’t take rejection personally. Allow yourself a few hours of disappointment. Then get back to the computer and do what you need to do to revise your story or book and get it back there. In order to succeed, you’ve got to see REJECTION as REDIRECTION, which means you just haven’t gotten the right article or book to the right editor at the right time! Persevere, keep learning your craft, and you will!
When I was writing my first books, I learned some of my best knowledge and made my best connections at writer’s conferences. Nothing can replace that face-to-face contact and learning from real, working writers, editors and agents!
So with two other writers, I founded an OKC Writer’s Conference, Write Well Sell Well, and we’re having our 3rd annual this year at the Crossings Community Center, helping new writers get equipped to get their voice out there, whether they are writing fiction, nonfiction, memoir, or screenplays.
I always share with writers that perseverance and determination is so important if you want to be a working writer! I love what an author said about this, “Never quit. I don’t care if you’re living in Central Park in your little sister’s Hello Kitty pup tent with her three cats. Never quit. Get yourself some emotional security and if publishers tell you that your manuscript is awful, take notes!”
Discover your own voice as a storyteller by reading, reading, reading, and writing, writing, writing. Write about something you are passionate about. Truth is in the heart. Believe in yourself. The route to the summit will be littered with rejections.
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