Striving To Be Better

As writers, we do everything we can to hone our craft. Our libraries are filled with books on writing. We tear our novels apart during the editing process, and submit our words (and egos) to be torn apart by our writer friends. We enter contests. We post our pages on forums such as Verlakay and Absolute Write. Everything to give us that edge, to get better.

But sometimes that’s not enough.

I recently landed a request from an agent for my novel. I was excited, of course. But I was also realistic. Fortunately I queried an agent who *gasp* doesn’t reply with a form rejection. Instead, she gave me feedback no one else had. In the past, I'd go back and fix those errors then query the next group of agents. My writing has grown a lot since my last book (according to those who’ve read both) because of this.

But this time that approach wasn’t enough.

This time I decided to take a writer’s workshop. That’s the only way my writing can really improve.

So I did the research and found two Writer’s Digest workshops I wanted to take. I couldn’t make up my mind, so I registered for them both. The one on writing a YA novel has nothing to do with my problem, but heck, it looked really cool. Plus the instructor is Gloria Kempton, who has written numerous articles and books on writing, and landed six figure deal for a YA series. Nice, huh? Fortunately I already had the textbook, Writing & Selling the YA Novel by K.L. Going.

The YA course started last week, and I’ve been working hard on the assignments. The other one will start in three weeks. I’ll get tons of feedback on my novel from published authors and from my class mates. Plus I can ask about the issue the agent pointed out.

And speaking of the agent. We somehow ended up having a conversation after I thanked her for her feedback. I mentioned I was going to take a workshop through Writer’s Digest and asked her if I could requery her afterwards (once I fix the problem). Normally I wouldn’t do that, but she’d been so supportive and encouraging about my novel. She was the one who told me not to give up it and to work on honing my craft some more. She was the one who inspired me to do whatever was necessary to become a better writer.

Her answer was yes!

So my question for you is: What steps have you taken to become a better writer? Remember, everything we do counts.

Update: I got back the comments on my first assignment which was based on a scene from my novel. I kicked some heavy duty butt on it. Yay!