Tuesday, July 2nd, and thank you for returning to another episode of Artistry With Words.
For those of you who live where there is serious heat all summer, you have my respect. We are on Day 3 of a meltdown in Olympia, and the natives are getting a bit grumpy. LOL
Anyway, what are we going to talk about today? How about self-improvement as a writer?
I have to tell you, I see evidence daily that leads me to believe that not too many writers on HP are paying attention to these tips. It’s amazing to me how many articles start out with a bland introduction, or how many articles have grammatical errors, or how many writers show very little improvement over the months.
For example: yesterday I read like the 500th recipe since I joined HubPages. Now I read them because I am supporting friends I know and not because I have any desire to cook or for that matter read about food….but almost every recipe starts out the same, and they all sound the same, and they all use the recipe template, so that they all are basically blah, blah, blah and more blah.
I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but surely one more time will be helpful, right? You have to sell the reader in the first ten seconds, and you have to make your work distinctive. How many recipes are there on the internet? I would venture to guess millions. What is going to make your recipe sought after? More importantly, what is going to make you, the writer, sought after?
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“But the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learned from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity of dissimilar.” Aristotle
TIP OF THE DAY
For metaphors to have maximum effect, the author should limit their number. Using too many metaphors is a little like being caught in the Looking Glass.
PROMPT OF THE DAY
Sunshine, warm days, summer fun and what else do you see in this picture from my personal archives circa 2011? By the way, I love the word circa and you hardly ever see it used. Just sayin’.
FUNDING SITE OF THE DAY
Funds For Writers can be found here. It costs $15 for a year’s subscription and it comes out twice a month with tons of money-making opportunities for writers. Stop by and see what you think of it.
THAT’S IT FOR TODAY
Short one today so I promise tomorrow will have more nuts and bolts for you to sift through. In the meantime, keep writing, keep improving and keep believing.
Bill
“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”
Billybuc
Artistry With Words 
I tell you, it’s a crap shoot with me Bill. Some days I feel I’m getting better other days I wonder what I think I’m really doing. Ugh…today…well I’m on the fence:) lol. YOU get better every article…it’s not always a choice I see. It’s working hard so thank you…for setting the gold standard:).
Kelly, you are much too kind. There are days when I feel like I am a poor copy of the writer I once was, so I think we all have those times. I like you blog a lot, and you are a good writer. Keep believing my friend and thank you.
We are having the opposite and having a rain-fest here. Please send some of that war weather our way. And I will try to send a bit of cooler weather along the opposite direction to you if I could. Seriously though, I agree that all the recipes I have been reading on Hubpages lately have been the same old thing and nothing spectacular, but I do wonder if the recipe capsule does limit this just slightly, too. Not sure, but definitely good food for thought. Hope you are having a great day now, Bill!!
I think the capsule limits options, Janine, but it sure doesn’t limit writing ability. If just one of these recipes would have an introduction that actually excited me then I would be happy. 🙂 Thanks as always my friend and today is much cooler, so thanks for sending it our way.
OH MY GOD I’M SO GLAD I DIDN’T WRITE A RECIPE YESTERDAY.
Having said that, I’m glad I finally earned your respect by living in a tropical climate.
Then again, I’m sorry I disappointed you with my lack of improvement.
You’ve set me on an emotional roller-coaster today.
Lizzy, I had better not see a recipe out of you this week. I am fed up with them and yes, the pun was intentional. 🙂 Take some draminine for motion sickness and get back on that roller-coaster.
Hmm…yes…lots of substandard writing. It makes the rest of us look less than professional.
I hope you’re not melting too much. Heck…I have fleece on because it’s only 74 here…and humid so there’s a bit of a chill after the rain we just had. 🙂
Fleece with 74 degrees? LOL…that would be great summer weather here. Actually clouds came in this morning and really cooled things down…it probably won’t make it above 75 later this afternoon which is just perfect…..and yes, substandard writing affects us all. 🙂
yup, I agree errors and corrections. That is also the key to writing and keeping the audience captivated for more!
We are also melting here that it is a torture to cook 😦
happy tuesday, Bill
Ruchira, the only good thing about the heat is we eat less and lose weight. LOL Thank you and stay cool.
Hi Bill,
Meltdown, I sympathize knowing how uncomfortable that is from being abroad in temps of 100 C. Great reminders here for the 10 second rule which I do believe in. That hook is essential be it an article, an interview or a query letter. Cheers for more Bill wisdom and reminders. Love circa too by the way 🙂
Thanks Suzie….you are a living example of the ten second rule in your writing…in fact, from my perspective, you are doing everything correctly….keep on keeping on my friend.