From the Editor: Challenging Ourselves


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Vision 76

 

From the Editor:

Challenging Ourselves

By

Lazette Gifford

Joyously Prolific

Copyright © 2014, J.A. Marlow, All Rights Reserved

 

Sometimes it's easy to become complacent about your writing.  For some people that means writing a few hundred words and walking away, telling themselves they'd done their work for the day and never trying to do more.  For others, it's writing and never going back to improve the work.

There are times when it's good to push yourself to work a little harder; to look into the writing abyss and find something that challenges you in one way or another.  If you become complacent with your work, you never do better.  You never experiment and you never attempt to reach a new level.  You might be happy where you are, but that doesn't mean you can't do better.

July is a second NaNo month, which might not be the kind of challenge you need.  Writing a lot of words in a short time can jumpstart a novel, but maybe you need to slow down instead.  Maybe you need to challenge yourself to study grammar for a month.  Perhaps you need to make yourself write villains who anger you and heroes who annoy you, because sometimes we make all our heroes to good.

Or maybe it isn't novels that give you trouble and you want to take a month to write shorter works.

There are challenges for writers everywhere.  Choose one that suits you and apply yourself to it.  Learn to grow.  You'll be a better -- and happier -- writer for it.