1.

 

If you feel compelled to write a story – it may be based on your own experiences or a story that you feel should be shared – find a way to make this happen. Don't allow your dream to become a regret.

2. 

If you feel you need to write to honour your ancestors, to remember different times or a way of life that has disappeared, put aside your own fear and write for the people, place or time that has passed from the Earth – these memories will continue to live through your words.

3.

 

This is so true for so many aspiring and established writers – that blank page or empty screen. The crucial thing is just to start, even if you begin writing rubbish. You can always go back and rework this once your writing flows and the book begins to takes shape.

For non-fiction writing, having a detailed outline can really help and there is no reason you have to begin with the introduction. Diving into a later chapter can help your ideas override your fear and self-consciousness. Many writers end a day’s work mid-sentence to ensure that when they come back to their work they can just pick up the thread without facing the anxiety of beginning again.

4. 

Reaching for the thread that runs through your book will support and guide you like an invisible GPS system.

5.

 

Write what is true to you, what moves and excites you. Don't write what you think other people want to hear.

6.

 

Some people like to edit their work, sentence by sentence, as they write and they find this works for them, but if you let your inner critic dominate your process you may not find your work flowing and reaching the expansive level of creativity that is your potential. Surrender to the words that want to flow through you.

7.

 

It is so important when writing on your particular topic that you manage to keep the sense of excitement and enquiry running through your work to carry the reader with you. Write to engage, not just to inform.

8.

 

Becoming a full-time writer is not an option for many people, so finding a way to think and develop your ideas while engaged in the busyness of living is vital. Allow these experiences to smoulder away in your imagination until they can ignite into words during the quiet time of writing.

9.

 

Just waiting for inspiration can be a long wait – turn up and start writing, and the words will come.

10.

 

It is so vital in these times to be prepared to take your book to your readers. The publisher will help in many ways, but really it is the writer who finds the kindred souls who become their readers. 

For more tips and secrets from the publishing world, attend the 2016 UK Hay House Writer's Workshop in London, England on the 19th and 20th of November 2016: