Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

You've finally made your pile.  People respect and admire you.  You've got the cars, the house, the kids' education is taken care of, you're taking your holidays in all the best places and... what then? Most people don't think past the 'getting'.  They just assume their lives will be so fulfilled by being rich that it won't matter what they do with their time when they get there. Common sense should tell you that it's not going to be like that.  It's human nature to always want more.  So what's the answer? Well, here's a rough guide to living life AFTER success! 1. Move On Up You're gonna have to set bigger goals.  Achieving what you want is good yes but, guess what, only for about 3 seconds.  Life can only be fulfilling when you're in need of something - when you want something so much it pulls you out of bed every day. 2. Move On Out You've got to take bigger risks. ...

There's really only one duty a writer has - and that is to constantly strive to improve. Ask any seasoned writer and he or she will tell you that getting better at the craft is probably the most fulfilling aspect of writing.  Because you are effectively getting better at communicating your ideas - and placing your world view into the minds of others.  To me, this is an almost magical concept. So - constant improvement - how does one achieve it? Here are nine short tips: 1. Read Like it's Going Out of Fashion You've heard it a million times before. You can't love writing without first loving to read.  Read a lot.  Read everything.  Analyse writing and writers.  Study what works, and what does not, wonder why and learn from it all. Realise too that the published writing you see has probably been worked and reworked over and over to appear effortless.  Don't assume professional writers get it down perfe...