JT Ellison - Guest Blogger - Writing Advice

Hey folks,

Today is the first day of the new round of Guest Blogging. To start off the new segment, JT Ellison has written a great piece on what has worked for her - advice she feels is valid for being a writer for the main stream market.

Writing Advice

I’m always reluctant to bill anything I share about the writing process as “advice” because even though I’m currently writing my 8th novel, I’m still learning. I strive to make each book better than the last, to challenge myself, to seek out new information, to try different writing methods. I stretch and grow and am constantly surprised by what I learn, and not at all surprised by how much I don’t know. Being open is vitally important to me.

But there’s one bit of true advice that I’m happy to share. It’s especially important now, in the world of Internet distractions and the lure of social networking.

The book comes first.

No matter what.

You may have heard that you MUST Tweet, Facebook, Blog, Tour, Guest Blog, etc., etc. That you have to have a platform. That you won’t be taken seriously if you don’t have 1,000 daily active commenters on your blog, a built-in fan page at the ready for promotion, a publicist lined up, and a Twitter account full of rabid retweeters.

But none of that is true.

What’s important to your success in the publishing industry is a little something I like to call Quality over Quantity. Statistics are all well and good, but what’s vitally important is writing the best damn book you can possibly write. Polishing it to within an inch of its life, making each word sing, the story intriguing, the characters relatable, and the ending worthy.

In other words, you’ve written a masterpiece. A book that good will speak for itself.

Yes, it’s easier for publishers if you have an established platform. That’s why non-fiction authors have an easier time with PR – they’ve got a built in platform to speak to. There are times when we as fiction writers have to create our own noise, and therein lies the issue – if we aren’t talking about ourselves, who is?

But there isn’t a single editor in the world who won’t say write the book first, then worry about the social networking. In this new age of distraction, the first rule of writing is write first, tweet later.

I’ll share another little secret with you – social networking can kill your creative spirit.

There, I’ve said it. As much fun as Facebook and Twitter are, they eat into the time you could be spending writing, reading, researching, being with your family – the works. Think about it – since you joined Facebook, has your reading time dropped off? I know mine has. And that damages me as a writer, because the more I read, the better I write.

Ahem. A confession. As I was writing this, I checked Twitter. And what popped up? This, from the Paris Review:

Writers often give advice they don't follow to the letter themselves. - Tobias Wolff

See, this is why I hate giving advice. At heart, we’re all a bit hypocritical when it comes to writing. But it’s so true. We love to preach the gospel according to Writer - do as I say, not as I do.

I try very hard to keep to a solid schedule – my best creative time happens to be 12-4 in the afternoon. That’s when I normally turn off the phones, turn on my great Freedom application, which shuts off my Internet, and get down to it. There are days, though, that this noble schedule isn’t working. Days when I tweet first and write, third, maybe fourth? So the best way to combat this is to have a really solid schedule, a lot of discipline, and a good head on your shoulders. Listen to that gnawing voice in the back of your head that says hey, you really should be working on your masterpiece now, not reading your RSS feed.

Trust me, we all fail at this occasionally. And that’s okay. But if you make a habit out of writing first, make sitting down at your computer and opening your manuscript your priority, you won’t have to worry about the good and bad angels dueling it out on your shoulders.

There are few true rules when it comes to writing, because we all have different paths up the mountain. You have to find what works for you. But the exception is the adage we all live by: Book First. That is truly sacrosanct, for all of us.


Well-stated. Yes, on occasion we all break from our routine, but you are right, staying focused on the task at hand that pays the bills (or will in the near future) should be your top priority. Thanks so very much to JT Ellison for giving us her input on what works for her! Be sure to stop by her website, jtellison.com, for all of her updates, where to distract her socially (couldn't help but throw that in there), and other great writing advice.

So what works for you, writers? When is your best time to write and how long do you write for? Do you find it easy to get pulled away from your writing and sucked into the 'social world'? To make up for this, do you extend your writing time or leave it as is? In this day and age this is a timely subject that I'm sure we all need to keep ourselves in the loop on.

In another regard though, have you noticed increased sales since starting your social networking/marketing? Are you closer to a debut author or a veteran author in the published world? Do you feel that this is a necessary evil that needs to be done to meet your goals as a successful author? Lastly, how long do you spend promoting/networking?

I hope you pitch in, and if you get your input in by Friday 10/1 at 5pm EST, you could win a free ebook from us (random drawing) in your choice of format. Looking forward to your input!