Keep a pad and pen with you whenever possible. Stash them in your car, your purse, your notebook case. When you have that sudden rush of ideas spring upon you, jot those thoughts down before they escape in the hustle of the activities of the day.

Rather than try to correct mistakes, grammar, and typos as you write, concentrate on getting your thoughts down instead. You can always go back and make necessary corrections later. If you start making corrections as you go, you might end up forgetting half, if not all, of what you intended to write. Work on writing while the inspiration is flowing, and save the corrections for afterwards.

Never write with your mouth full. You’ll make that typo, scream about that time because you did, and fling food all over the moniter. Then you will not be happy. To remain happy and not face this problem, don’t eat and write at the same time.

Don’t write to please the world. Write to please yourself. If you write something less than yourself, it’ll show in your work. If you write yourself, it’ll show in your work.

Write what you know. Share your mind with the world! If you don’t know about it, research it! All authors are not born knowing everything they write about. They research their topic. So can you! And while authoring a very believable tale, you can be learning at the same time. Talk about making good use of your time. (grin)

Do you need more quiet time to work? Spend $15 on a pair of hearing protectors such as a hunter might use. They cut down on sound and noise tremendously and allow the author to write in peace. The ear muffs cover the ears comfortably.

To help prepare yourself for the inevitable critcisms from your many “fans”, keep any rejection letters, newspaper clips, and other comments that seem to be nagative rather than positive. These will build up your character and give you encouragement. How? They prepare you for the “real world” of publishing. Many writers have never been published, and when they are published, they are not ready for some of the awful criticism they will receive. Saving and reading over seemingly negativity is a great gift from “fans” and helps you tremendously.

Don’t wait until you ‘find’ time to start writing. If you wait until everything seems ‘just right’ before you being putting words on paper, you’ll never get started. Make time to write! Sit down and just start, and let your words flow. The important thing is to get yours ideas trasferred from your mind onto paper (or computer). Even if you have a busy life, allow yourself the luxury of 10 to 30 minutes a day to write. The rest of the world will still be there when you’re done.

It’s a good idea for writers to have a web site. Having a site offers the writer a place to showcase his or her work experience, list qualifications, etc. Be sure your site has contact information! Hosting your domain is easy and inexpensive. There are a lot of web hosting companies out there, but beware! You don’t have to pay a big price to have an online presence. Shop around before committing yourself to a particular web hosting service. I encourage authors to set up a website to showcase their work and any other information they want publishers to be able to access easily. Obtaining your own domain and hosting is fairly inexpensive. You can host your domain for as little as $3.99 a month using a GoDaddy hosting plan. You can also register a domain name for as little as $8.95 with GoDaddy. Web hosting and having your own domain doesn’t have to cost a lot! If you want a domain with more hosting resources, you can always upgrade to a higher host plan.

Three other possibilities for domain web hosting are iPowerWeb, Lunarpages Web Hosting, and Jumpline.