1. Enjoy what you do.

This can also mean at you are willing to spend hours at the typewriter, computer, or whatever your medium is, and if you don’t love spending an hour on it, don’t even start.

2. Be patient.

Writing process can take so much of your time and patience is very important. No book has ever written overnight. This may take a month, a year, or more. Also, prepare to write more than one book. Publishers want Authors, not a single book.

3. Allow your story to end.

It may seem unimportant, but in fact, it’s significant, and an impediment for many writers. Writing an ending to your story is a challenging part. You need to decide to end the writing and finished it at some point, and let go of it.

4. Edit.

No books ever skipped this step, in fact, it’s one of the keys to a successful writer. When you’ve written your first draft, let it sit for a couple of weeks, and come back, edit it with a rested mind and refreshed eyes.

5. Write for yourself.

Writing should be a hobby and entertainment of your life where you can share your bursting energy. It should please you, it should be something that you would pick out to read for yourself. You do it because you enjoy it (see Tip #1) and you love it. If you decide to start writing because you want to start a new career – forget it.

6. Workspace.

Your workplace is everywhere, the entire world. If you are a writer, write all the time. Maybe not on a paper but certainly in your head.

7. Observe.

I think this is the basis of all writing. If you can’t observe everything around you, writing is not for you. Ask yourself this: where do stories come from? Where do characters and their mannerism come from? Where did you see a setting just like the one you’re trying to figure out, the one you want to use for the opening of your novel? All stories start from a question that needs an answer and it’s just around you. You only have to see them.

8. Let go of your fear of failure or success.

Forget your fear, failure, and success. When you start writing don’t think about publishing, about royalty checks, about reviews, if your novel will become a bestseller, and so on and so forth. Trust me; it is long way run. Just write.

9. Practice summarizing.

Remember what your grade school English teacher told you? Just right after you read a story? Well, trust me you will still need it, and probably sooner than you think. You might not know that the person asking you is the agent or publisher that you wanted to meet all along. So you’d better have a brilliant, three sentences.

10. Enjoy what you do. (See Tip #1)

Because otherwise, it’s an incredible waste of time.