Ini adalah kumpulan saran-saran dari para penulis yang dikumpulkan dari situs Copyblogger.
Copyblogger punya satu topik konten khusus. Namanya “The Writer Files”. Topik ini merupakan konten dengan format tanya jawab antara tim Copyblogger dengan seorang penulis. Isinya menjelaskan tentang kebiasaan-kebiasaan dan gagasan penulis tersebut.
Salah satu pertanyaan yang ada pada format tanya jawab tersebut adalah:
Berikut jawaban dari para penulis yang saya himpun (teks tetap dalam bahasa Inggris).
- Dan Pink.
Don’t worry about what other people think. And work harder. You might not believe it right now, but persistence almost always trumps talent.
- CJ Lyons.
The best advice I ever received came from Jeffery Deaver. Early in my career, he told me to never forget that the “reader is god.” I use that as my touchstone for every decision, whether it’s about the next plot twist or a business choice about a new contract.
As authors we are all CEOs of our own Global Media Empire. Things can be overwhelming and distract us. But if I keep my readers happy, they keep my bottom line happy.
- Lee Odden.
Brute force trial and error writing takes way too long! Take some classes, get a mentor or two and practice as much as you can. Stick with what you’re most passionate about and be persistent.
- Jon Morrow.
Here’s the thing about that question:
The most valuable things I could tell a beginning writer wouldn’t make any sense, because knowledge is viewed through the lens of experience. Without that experience, the knowledge is worthless.
So, I’d tell them to gain experience. In other words: write, a lot.
- Jeff Goins.
Yes. This is the one thing I didn’t do for years, and it defeated me more than anything else:
Don’t give up.
Keep going, don’t stop when you get discouraged. Go, go, go. This is about endurance, not energy. As the cliché goes, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
- Lisa Barone.
Figure out who you are and what you want to say and be true to that. Nothing else matters but your words. It used to be that marketers would all shake their fingers at me and tell me that was naïve, but it’s not. They were naïve.
Bleeding what you’re passionate about is how you attract an audience.
That’s what every SEO is trying to do right now – to write “great, passionate content.” The problem is, no one cares what they have to say because not even they care about what they have to say.
As a writer, your voice and your lens are the most powerful tools in your toolshed. Use them both to the max, and don’t accept any less than that from yourself.
- David Meerman Scott.
You can’t convince a publisher to accept your work. But if you show publishers that you already have readers of your work, they’ll come knocking at your door.
- Pamela Slim.
Don’t spend too much time in the planning stage.
Experiment with shipping small projects.
Surround yourself with smart, compassionate, and motivated friends who will encourage you to share your gifts.
Avoid anyone who uses your fear and weaknesses as a way to control you.
- Brian Clark.
Just one word. Plastics.
- Elizabeth Gilbert.
If I had it to do over again, I would’ve stayed away from romantic entanglements and focused more on my work. And mastered a second language when I was young enough that it would still have been easy. (Or, rather, easier.)
- Hugh Howey.
Worry about the writing and nothing else.
Don’t worry about sales, agents, publishers, any of that. Get a dozen works under your belt of whatever length you feel comfortable writing, polish them within an inch of perfection, and get them out there. The rest can be a slow burn.
What’s important right now is releasing that creativity and getting your work down on paper.
- Maria Popova.
Writing is meant to move the heart, the mind, the soul – not the page-view meter. I’m fortunate – biased, perhaps – in having always approached my writing as personal development rather than business development and always having written for this personal audience of one. Everything external has been a byproduct rather than an objective.
So the most critical thing an aspiring writer can do, I think, is to always know why he or she is doing it and for whom. It’s fine to find gratification in the approval of others or in financial success or in any other extrinsic reward, but it’s toxic to make that approval or prestige the motive to write.
The most important piece of advice, however, renders the premise of the question somewhat moot:
Learn by doing.
- Sonia Simone.
Honestly, about 75% of what I write is exactly that — it’s my “Bill and Ted” advice to myself at a previous point in time. I don’t think I’d want to cross my own timeline, though — I like how things have worked out, and as tough as some of it was, I wouldn’t want to change where it all took me.
- Austin Kleon.
I wrote a whole book of advice I wish I’d known when I was 19 (Steal Like An Artist), but the one piece of advice that’s the most valuable to me is “marry well.” Choose your partner wisely, because that’s the person who will influence you the most. I got incredibly lucky — my partner chose me.
- Shane Snow.
Read as much as you possibly can when you’re young.
- Henry Rollis.
More notes. Every date, record played, show gone to, what he said, she said, what songs they did at practice, etc. Hard information. You can never take enough notes.
- Danny Sulivan.
I sometimes think that I should have gone to a different college for a career in journalism. But it has worked out great, so my takeaway is: don’t spend so much time thinking about what you’d do over and focus instead on where you want to go and how to get there now.
- Bernadette Jiwa.
Don’t wait for permission to start.
- Seth Godin.
Keep your overhead low, ship often, be generous, be patient. It’s going to be fine.
Topik khusus ini kemudian dialihkan dan dikembangkan secara khusus oleh Copyblogger di situs Rainmaker.fm.
Copyblogger punya satu topik konten khusus. Namanya “The Writer Files”. Topik ini merupakan konten dengan format tanya jawab antara tim Copyblogger dengan seorang penulis. Isinya menjelaskan tentang kebiasaan-kebiasaan dan gagasan penulis tersebut.
Salah satu pertanyaan yang ada pada format tanya jawab tersebut adalah:
"Can you offer any advice to fellow writers that you might offer yourself, if you could go back in time and “do it all over?"
Berikut jawaban dari para penulis yang saya himpun (teks tetap dalam bahasa Inggris).
- Dan Pink.
Don’t worry about what other people think. And work harder. You might not believe it right now, but persistence almost always trumps talent.
- CJ Lyons.
The best advice I ever received came from Jeffery Deaver. Early in my career, he told me to never forget that the “reader is god.” I use that as my touchstone for every decision, whether it’s about the next plot twist or a business choice about a new contract.
As authors we are all CEOs of our own Global Media Empire. Things can be overwhelming and distract us. But if I keep my readers happy, they keep my bottom line happy.
- Lee Odden.
Brute force trial and error writing takes way too long! Take some classes, get a mentor or two and practice as much as you can. Stick with what you’re most passionate about and be persistent.
- Jon Morrow.
Here’s the thing about that question:
The most valuable things I could tell a beginning writer wouldn’t make any sense, because knowledge is viewed through the lens of experience. Without that experience, the knowledge is worthless.
So, I’d tell them to gain experience. In other words: write, a lot.
- Jeff Goins.
Yes. This is the one thing I didn’t do for years, and it defeated me more than anything else:
Don’t give up.
Keep going, don’t stop when you get discouraged. Go, go, go. This is about endurance, not energy. As the cliché goes, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
- Lisa Barone.
Figure out who you are and what you want to say and be true to that. Nothing else matters but your words. It used to be that marketers would all shake their fingers at me and tell me that was naïve, but it’s not. They were naïve.
Bleeding what you’re passionate about is how you attract an audience.
That’s what every SEO is trying to do right now – to write “great, passionate content.” The problem is, no one cares what they have to say because not even they care about what they have to say.
As a writer, your voice and your lens are the most powerful tools in your toolshed. Use them both to the max, and don’t accept any less than that from yourself.
- David Meerman Scott.
You can’t convince a publisher to accept your work. But if you show publishers that you already have readers of your work, they’ll come knocking at your door.
- Pamela Slim.
Don’t spend too much time in the planning stage.
Experiment with shipping small projects.
Surround yourself with smart, compassionate, and motivated friends who will encourage you to share your gifts.
Avoid anyone who uses your fear and weaknesses as a way to control you.
- Brian Clark.
Just one word. Plastics.
- Elizabeth Gilbert.
If I had it to do over again, I would’ve stayed away from romantic entanglements and focused more on my work. And mastered a second language when I was young enough that it would still have been easy. (Or, rather, easier.)
- Hugh Howey.
Worry about the writing and nothing else.
Don’t worry about sales, agents, publishers, any of that. Get a dozen works under your belt of whatever length you feel comfortable writing, polish them within an inch of perfection, and get them out there. The rest can be a slow burn.
What’s important right now is releasing that creativity and getting your work down on paper.
- Maria Popova.
Writing is meant to move the heart, the mind, the soul – not the page-view meter. I’m fortunate – biased, perhaps – in having always approached my writing as personal development rather than business development and always having written for this personal audience of one. Everything external has been a byproduct rather than an objective.
So the most critical thing an aspiring writer can do, I think, is to always know why he or she is doing it and for whom. It’s fine to find gratification in the approval of others or in financial success or in any other extrinsic reward, but it’s toxic to make that approval or prestige the motive to write.
The most important piece of advice, however, renders the premise of the question somewhat moot:
Learn by doing.
- Sonia Simone.
Honestly, about 75% of what I write is exactly that — it’s my “Bill and Ted” advice to myself at a previous point in time. I don’t think I’d want to cross my own timeline, though — I like how things have worked out, and as tough as some of it was, I wouldn’t want to change where it all took me.
- Austin Kleon.
I wrote a whole book of advice I wish I’d known when I was 19 (Steal Like An Artist), but the one piece of advice that’s the most valuable to me is “marry well.” Choose your partner wisely, because that’s the person who will influence you the most. I got incredibly lucky — my partner chose me.
- Shane Snow.
Read as much as you possibly can when you’re young.
- Henry Rollis.
More notes. Every date, record played, show gone to, what he said, she said, what songs they did at practice, etc. Hard information. You can never take enough notes.
- Danny Sulivan.
I sometimes think that I should have gone to a different college for a career in journalism. But it has worked out great, so my takeaway is: don’t spend so much time thinking about what you’d do over and focus instead on where you want to go and how to get there now.
- Bernadette Jiwa.
Don’t wait for permission to start.
- Seth Godin.
Keep your overhead low, ship often, be generous, be patient. It’s going to be fine.
Topik khusus ini kemudian dialihkan dan dikembangkan secara khusus oleh Copyblogger di situs Rainmaker.fm.