7 Deadly Sins of Writers
Thou shalt not commit these mistakes as a writer
I was casually talking to a friend during one of our weekly barbecue hang outs and for some reason, the conversation made a quick turn toward our professional careers.
I can still clearly hear him say,
“What about you, you’re just a writer, right?”
and damn was I offended. I love this guy, we’ve been friends since high school and he’s one of my best friends in the world but that statement just came from a dude whom I have to do his college essays for in order for him to graduate.
It’s infuriating to think that some people think that writing is an easy job when there are days I want to rip my hair off just to finish a thousand words; days when I ask myself,
“Why in the world did I choose this profession?”
They don’t understand that there are a lot more to it than just coming up with words, many things we need to keep improving to keep up with the system, and many mistakes we can commit as writers.
Like these 7 deadly mistakes that writers can make:
1. Lack of research
Before any well-written article or story, research should be done about the topic first. Your credibility as a writer may depend on it — if you’re constantly putting out wrong information about what you’re writing, believe me your readers will notice.
Especially if you have diverse readers, chances are there are one out of many that is well-versed on the topic.
This is vital to any writing project to be able to cover important points.
2. Skipping proofreading
Even I suffer from this deadly sin. Sometimes my mind gets burnt from the writing that proofreading becomes skimming when of course, it shouldn’t be.
Proofreading ensures that all your writings are polished to a high standard and are completely free from errors.
Skipping this part can make your writing pieces seem unprofessional and may even confuse your readers.
Trust me, it’s worth doing.
3. Not setting aside time to write
Now this is a big one, writing involves putting in the time and effort and writing consistently is the key to seeing those hard work pay off.
If you truly want to be a writer, you’ll put yourself into it — not a little bit, not sometimes, not when you’re not out with your friends — a lot, if not most of you.
Set aside time to write everyday. I’ve been using a trick I learned from Elon Musk called Time Blocking, wherein you block a specific amount of time to just do that one thing.
Here’s the full details of it:
4. Procrastinating
Ah, my arch nemesis — procrastination. What’s another episode of Brooklyn Nine-nine right? Another chapter of that erotica novel you can’t put down? Surely, you’ll die without cereals and need to go to the grocery store ASAP.
Every single thing we can think off just to put off writing.
This is hard to combat especially these days when procrastination is just a few clicks away.
Here are a few ways to help your productivity:
5. Letting negative feedback affect you as a writer
Constructive criticisms are good, they help you become a better writer but sometimes even if people aren’t aware of it, they come off as negative — and we shouldn’t take it to heart.
But of course, no matter how good you write, there’s always going to be people who just like to bring others down and they know it.
Maybe it’s true, you’ve made a few mistakes on your last article. Nobody is perfect, re-edit it if you can and if you can’t, it’s not the end of the world — there are plenty more things to write about.
Don’t let negativity bring you down; just brush it off and continue being a better writer.
6. Copying someone else’s work
According to plagiarism.org,
Most cases of plagiarism are considered misdemeanors, punishable by fines of anywhere between $100 and $50,000 — and up to one year in jail.
Plagiarism can also be considered a felony under certain state and federal laws. For example, if a plagiarist copies and earns more than $2,500 from copyrighted material, he or she may face up to $250,000 in fines and up to ten years in jail.
Plagiarism is a crime and a serious offence. It’s not worth jail time.
7. Not giving yourself a break
I haven’t met one single professional writer who hasn’t had a burn out from writing. We all get writer’s block, we all get tired (yes, even if we’re just sitting down all day), and we all need a life other than writing.
The different experiences of different individuals are what makes a writing piece interesting to read and we can’t have those experiences if we’re just sitting in front of our laptops all day.
Give yourself a break. Your mind and body will thank you for it.
No writer is perfect and our jobs aren’t easy but if we continue to hone our craft, get it out there, and be supportive of other writers, chances are we’re going places.
I hope this article can help you avoid the seven deadly sins that writers make and if I missed one, you can comment it down below so that it can help me and other writers who may come across it.
Keep writing!
