I've heard from many writers that one of the best ways to improve your writing is to read your work out loud. When you read your own work, your eye reads over things that are incorrect because you see what you think is there, not what is actually there. Reading it out loud forces you to perceive the words through a different sense, and by hearing the work you’re bypassing your brain’s ability to see what it wants to see. You'll catch things you wouldn't by simply reading what's on the page. In listening back to my short stories I've noticed that I make 2 huge mistakes often:
1. Show Don't Tell
2. Using adverbs (ex: quickly)
Also I've noticed I like to use the phrase "made a rush for..." Now that I've seen this, I can endeavor to edit all future writing, with these problems in mind.
I have three main reasons for starting this podcast.
1. To improve my writing.
2. Self imposed deadlines, to increase output.
3. To put content out there before releasing a full novel in podcast form for practice and exposure.

1. Quality Content
2. Consistency
3. Promotion
So for me this means:
1. Continuing to better my writing skills so that I'm putting out quality content, and having self imposed deadlines of releasing one short story a month so I'll be writing a lot and hopefully improving a lot.
2. Finishing at least 2 books so I can start writing a third while releasing the first two, and finishing the entire audio production of the first book before even releasing the first episode to ensure a CONSISTENT weekly release of each episode.
3. Doing what I can to let people know about my stories via social media, creating promos for other podcasters to play, and anything else I can do to promote my work.

Thanks for joining me in this quest for publication. It may be a long road, but it should prove to be a lot of fun. Watch for my next podcast short story “Evil Takes Flight” to drop this Friday.
Anything that drives you to write more and improve your writing is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteYes sir, very true. Thanks for the comment Scott! I can't wait to see the first issue of Flying Island Press's E-Zine Flagship drop on the 4th of July! It's going to be awesome! Everyone reading these comments go and check out:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flyingislandpress.com/FlyingIslandPress/FlagShip.html