Are you a good writer? What do you need to become a good writer? First of all, you need to believe in yourself. Secondly, you need to write – a lot. Patience and perseverance are key elements to making a success out of your writing adventures. Plus, you need to be good at researching your topic. Why the research? Good writers need to be able to demonstrate that they know what they’re talking about so they can sound believable while, at the same time, having the knack of capturing the reader’s attention.

Here are some tips to help you perfect your gift of the written word.

Daily writing regimen – It’s important to be consistent with the time you allot each day to your writing. I like to write first thing in the morning before I get involved in any of my other daily rituals. I also write later in the day, if time allows, but if I put my writing first, then I know I’ll accomplish something every day.

Read daily – Reading is an important key to improving and strengthening your writing skills. What to read? Anything and everything that crosses your path as well as material and genres that you are currently working on in your own writing.

Keep a journal and write a real letter instead of texting. The more diversity you add to your writing regimen, the better your writing will be. I keep a daily journal, and I write regularly to other author acquaintances, even those who live only a few miles away. It’s all part of the craft that we wish to excel in.

Good grammar and punctuation – Yes, you can invest in online tools to improve your grammar and punctuation, but it’s important, also, to have a good sense of the rules of writing even without these tools. Online tools are only good if they have a foundation on which to begin the corrections.

Avoid using exclamation marks and repeated dots … Why? It’s redundant and it can be annoying to the reader. When teaching creative writing to young people, I was amused with their repeated use of both exclamation marks and dots. Sometimes they’d even have a chapter finish with an entire page of dots. The dot-dot-dot … and so on really doesn’t tell the reader anything and it’s not writing.

Avoid the filler phrases like “needless to say,” and “for what it’s worth,” and buzzwords like “um,” “ah,” “simply,” and “you know.” They’re vocal disfluencies or hesitations and they add nothing to the story. You can use these fillers, but use them sparingly.

Take some writing courses, online or in person. We’re never too old or too smart to learn something new.

Think and plan before you write. Too often we jump right into writing a story and forget that there is a logical process, one that will make the plot evolve, the characters develop, and the dialogue move the story forward.

Is all of the above enough to help us become good writers? I’d like to think so, but there are probably other points and exercises that will help. The important thing is to write, to read, and to write some more.