As a follow on from yesterday, there is one thing I forgot to mention and I think it's important.

Read!

Yes, read until your eyes bleed. Read as much as you can in the genres you like and in some that you don't. Why? Because nothing inspires like reading. Reading teaches. Reading makes us aware of different things around us and helps with your own work.

It's a very naive person indeed who thinks they can write fantastic prose without reading other people's work. I know many 'young' authors who think that what they write is the be all and end all and that if they read they will tarnish their creativity.

What a load of bollocks!

When I first started writing I basically wrote a complete Lord of the Rings rip off. It was terrible. But I learned so much that the next story I wrote was better. I then read more and the story after that was better still. Now I am at the stage where I think my writing is up to a standard marginally above 'total suck'! LOL

So read. Realise how crap you are and do something about it. Keep on reading and writing.