Claire Said:

Does resume writing advice just make you feel more inadequate?

We Answered:

I'm sorry that they are making you feel inadequate. My guess is you are a new graduate, and resume helping advice on the web, and in print seems to leave out that part of the readership. They(authors of the advice) just aren't speaking to you is all.

I hope the website below can help.

In the meantime, don't worry about how outstanding your accomplishments are or aren't. You are young and employers don't expect you to be Superman just quite yet. Put your mediocre accomplishments down on your resume, like you were a member of the business club. You don't have to be President!

I always laugh because people lie on their resumes, and there are usually 60 people Mayor of Phoenix, all at the same time! Hey there has to be Indians to every chief! Mediocre accomplishments make you look well honest, and that's a good trait to have in an employee! Also being a follower is just as important as being a leader!

Feeling better all ready aren't you?

Erica Said:

I need advice regarding writing my business plan?

We Answered:

I think you should include both the free product you are creating and the advertising in the products and services section, just make a clear delineation between them. Have the first subsection address the advertising (the revenue-producing product) and the second subsection address the free information service (the audience-producting product). Both are a key component of your product.

Misty Said:

How can you begin to get yourself into the "writing" business? Any advice?

We Answered:

1) Don't broadcast your age. Editors are FAR more likely to see an 18-year old as inexperienced, un-nuanced, and incapable of writing emotionally deep scenes than they are to see you as a prodigy. Being 18 is more likely to keep you OUT of the business than to get you in, so don't talk about it unless asked. Let your writing speak for itself (and for you).

2) Read about the industry. I'd recommend starting with Stephen King's autobiography/writing manual On Writing. Even if you don't like his fiction, On Writing is seen by many as one of the best books on becoming a writer out there.

3) Read.
A lot.
In all genres.
Most writers I know aim to read 50 novels a year (one a week).

4) Write.
A lot.
Most professionals I know treat writing as a job. They make routines and keep them. They even set hours. In King's book he says he was writing for something like 4 hours a day, EVERY day--while working a full time job and raising a kid to get his first work published.

5) If you want to get into the writing "business," then treat it like a business.
Be serious, professional, research your publishers BEFORE ever approaching them, etc. Also, follow all submissions guidelines EXACTLY. Don't think you'll get noticed by being different. Editors and agents got so many manuscripts they simply don't have time to read them all. Being different is FAR more likely to get you tossed straight in the trash than picked up. The guidelines exist for a reason, to make their job more efficient and easier. Breaking the guidelines makes their job HARDER and they will not like you for it. Most won't even bother reading the first page.

6) Once you have a finished manuscript, get an agent before approaching a publisher.

7) Proofread, proofread, proofread. You misspell there/their in the first page and editor will stop reading almost instantly.

8) EDIT.
Then edit again.
"Slay your darlings" is a common rule of writing for a reason. Too many beginning novelists think they have it all figured out and submit monstrous tomes and refuse to edit out scenes they like, even if the scene doesn't further the story.
Don't get attached to ANYTHING and edit EVERYTHING.

Lucy Said:

Would an accountant other than give financial advice write a business plan on info that you give them?

We Answered:

Try contacting Business Link.
I think an accountant would charge a lot - there are other support organisations for business plans.

Marcus Said:

Good advice for writing a novel?

We Answered:

Morgaine has written a most inspired answer, I think Xerxes is a great compliment to that answer as well.

--- For me I tend to write several things at once so that I have lots of different worlds I can delve into depending on my mood. (Difficult to get bored if you have a variety)

--- I'm also a wing/prayer writer or a 'pantster'. I don't do outlines and if I do they are sketchy little dots or dashes on a napkin or up the margins of my long hand drafts. I'm motivated by the development of the story, the growth of the characters and for me it's like reading a book, the only difference is the next page comes from me so in order to see what it says I have to create it and I always want to know how my stories are going to end, just like reading a regular novel. If I don't skip ahead then I'm forced to go one page at a time.

--- I also happen to write linearly. For me going in order of one page and scene at a time was the process that helped me finish my two published novels. When I write one scene here and another there or only my favorite parts I tend to abandon the work. However I usually am able to utilize them in another work which is a positive so that the work doesn't have slow uninspired parts because all my inspired writing can be rewritten and added to the manuscript I am most empassioned with at the time.

--- I begin a manuscript on the computer first then jump to long hand so I have two versions of the same manuscript going always. I type the long hand in and edit as I go, I am also now privy to some of the future since my long hand version is usually a chapter or two ahead of my typed version so any foreshadowing I need I can slip in at that point.

However truth is this is the time when you begin to develop habits and find the system that works for you. King takes long walks, some writers have indicated they listen to music. I can't do either. I treat my writing like my job. I write for a few hours a day and answer reader mail and do promotions for a few hours a few times a week. I take weekends off from writing (unless I'm taking or teaching a class) and holidays too (unless the kids are away) and vacations (no matter what I do not write on vacation okay unless I'm inspired).

--- Sticking with a schedule sitting in silence at a desk at a designated time helps me to write. Anything I jot down during the day or daydream or dream I save until it's time to work. That way I always have something to do. I tried other ways and they just don't work for me.