Bina Shah

Many people ask me a lot of questions about writing and publishing. The two questions I hear most often are "I want to write, how do I do it?" and "How can I get my novel published?" It would take me many months to tell you exactly how to do either, but I'll try to give brief versions of my answers here.

Writing 101

Writing talent is not a gift from the gods; it's something that has to be practiced, practiced, and practiced. And even then you may never be perfect, but you'll save yourself a lot of time and disappointment if you realize from the start what it really takes to become a writer.

The first thing to remember is that you have to have excellent writing skills. By this I mean you should be past the stage of, on average, a tenth grade English language level. If you're still at the stage where you make basic grammar and spelling mistakes, then you need to work on eliminating those from your writing. Any basic guidebook on the English language can help you through this difficult but necessary phase of your writing career. Don't hesitate to get tutoring or classes to help you improve. And don't be embarrassed about it either.

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