It Never Ends

I got a new book!

Okay, yeah, that’s not a surprise to anyone who knows me. I get a lot of new books. Most of the books I purchase, though, are fiction. I dig into stories just because I love them! Some I do purchase and read specifically to grow as a writer. I want to know what’s selling, what tropes people expect, how other writers develop plots and characters.

This new book, though, is one that will hopefully help me grow as a writer. It’s Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness into Words by Joanna Penn. I backed her Kickstarter and just go the book in the mail Thursday!

I don’t know that this particular book will help me. I already take advantage of my depression whenever possible, instead of it taking advantage of me. That said, Penn is far more experienced a writer than I am. I suspect I’ll be able to learn a thing or two!

Sure, I have well over a dozen books out under my name. Sure, I’ve been told my writing is excellent. All that is good.

But I can be better.

I can always be better. I can always learn how to be a better author.

Sometimes that means I learn how to write better. This book may help me with that! Finding beta readers to club me over the head with dumb plot twists helps. Reading other writers and identifying what works and what doesn’t helps.

Sometimes I learn how to be a better author. That may mean seeing what tropes more people want to read about. Investigating how to get my books into more people’s hands. Learning how to run Amazon ads or find a new platform.

But what that means is that I must always be learning. There is always more. Always. I can be a better writer.

What do you do to grow as a writer? What do you do to find ways to learn more?