What are your writing goals? Do you want to complete your novel, finish editing your short story or essay, start a new poem, or finally submit your writing for publication? With a day job, ongoing commitments, or unexpected changes sending your writing routine topsy-turvy, it’s not always easy to accomplish your goals as a writer. But don’t give up! Here are some great tips to help you with setting — and keeping! — your writing goals.

Setting Writing Goals You Can Achieve

Break your long-term writing goal into multiple short-term goals. Let’s say your long-term goal is to become a published writer. Instead of seeing one big, hard-to-accomplish task, separate your objective into short-term steps. If you’re writing a book, you would start with completing and polishing your manuscript. The next short-term goal would be writing a great query letter and after that, finding a literary agent. If you have a short story, essay, or poetry ready to submit, your short-term goal would be to research potential literary journals for your writing. When you break down a big project into smaller steps, it’s easier to achieve those goals. …

When reading short stories published in literary journals, you may notice some of these short stories are actually medium-length — and an occasional short story may be rather long. But with more people using mobile devices for all their reading, editors of literary magazines are now focusing on shorter short stories that don’t exceed about 3,500 words. If you want to boost your odds of getting published, you should know it’s important to shorten your short story and make it as tight and concise as possible without losing anything essential.

5 Ways To Shorten Your Short Story

Change your mind. Big stories can come in little packages! Sometimes, a short story that’s actually short can pack just as much meaning and experience into the text as a story that sprawls across several pages. Concise, focused writing often leads to a bigger emotional impact. Stories that start from the very first sentence tend to get more attention than those that fight for momentum. …

When you’re writing a short story or novel, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is determining which character’s point of view (POV) you want to use. Typically, a short story or novel is written from the protagonist’s point of view. But for some storylines, the perspectives of two or more characters may be equally important to the plot. A multi-POV short story or novel follows multiple characters’ perspectives, switching between narrators at key moments. While using multiple POVs can make your writing dynamic and hook your readers, it can be very difficult to pull off — there’s a lot to juggle! …

Now that you’re ready to self-publish, it’s time to decide which of the print-on-demand platforms you’ll choose. The biggest, most popular options are Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and IngramSpark. The experts know there are many similarities between these two self-publishing companies — and also some key differences. When it comes to KDP vs. IngramSpark, here’s how to decide which self-publishing platform is right for you.

KDP vs. IngramSpark: How To Know Which Is Right For You

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KDP: The KDP platform is very easy to navigate and use, even for first-timers. KDP provides clear instructions and steps that guide you through the entire process.

IngramSpark: The IngramSpark platform is a bit less user-friendly, though certainly not impossible to figure out. Going through the self-publishing process can take longer, but this is because there are more options offered in multiple areas. …

For many writers, grammar rules are trusted guides through the sometimes murky world of creative writing. If you want to be a good writer, you should follow the rules, right? Well, put down that red pen and close your style guide, because the grammar gurus know that sometimes you can — and even should — break grammar rules. GASP! Yes, it’s true! There are more than a few grammar guidelines that, contrary to popular belief, aren’t written in stone.

10 Grammar Rules You Can Break (Sometimes!)

Ending a sentence with a preposition. While many writers believe this is true, it isn’t. You can end a sentence with a preposition (words dealing with location in space or time: at, for, from, with). …

Certain professions, hobbies, or activities come with preconceived stereotypes. But the truth is, not all librarians are old maids wearing horn-rimmed glasses, not all auto mechanics are men, and not all grannies sit in rocking chairs and knit. Writers also tend to be typecast, and the writing life is often romanticized or misrepresented. Here is a list of the most common misconceptions about the writing life and writers — and shines a light on the surprising reality!

Misconceptions About The Writing Life And Writers — Debunked

All Writers Are Introverts

Here’s the timeworn image of a writer: Sitting home alone, wearing a cardigan, drinking coffee, and typing away for hours. Okay, wearing a cozy cardigan is simply a smart fashion statement. But, while writing is typically a solitary endeavor, it doesn’t mean all writers are introverts. In fact, more than a few famous writers have been extroverts (Hemingway and Twain, to name two literary greats)! …

If you want to improve your health and be fit, it helps to exercise. The same rings true for writing: If you want to improve your writing skills, you need to exercise your creative muscles. Unlike writing prompts, which hope to inspire full works, creative writing exercises target a specific skill and focus only on improving that technique. The experts have put together a list of creative writing exercises that will help you stretch and improve your skills.

Creative Writing Exercises To Strengthen Your Writing Skills

1. Have your characters dine at a “blind restaurant.” In dark dining, the room is pitch black and all the servers are blind. …

In the dark of night, after hours of writing, editing, and proofreading…eek! THE END is near! The end of writing your short story, essay, poetry, or book, that is. Now that you’re finished writing and it’s time to start submitting your work, you may be feeling a bit leery. Perhaps you’re haunted by the possibility of getting rejections. Or the idea of having to spend hours researching markets makes your blood run cold. Don’t panic! Here are some of the best tips to help you get over the fear of submitting your writing to literary journals or agents.

How To Get Over The Fear Of Making Submissions

Ward off the fear of rejection. For many writers, the idea that editors or agents may reject the manuscript they’ve worked so hard on is enough to stop them from making any submissions. The easiest way to overcome this mental roadblock is to realize that rejection happens to every writer, from Stephen King to Dr. Seuss. In fact, the average rate of acceptance is one out of 100 submissions. So, while rejection letters may seem like an approaching horde of zombies, each rejection will actually bring you one step closer to the dawn — and an acceptance! …