5 ways to improve your writing in 2023

Sharing lessons from my creative writing career of over a decade

2022 was a year full of ups and downs. Writing is definitely not easy, but the acceptances make you momentarily forget the rejections. Here’s some published work-

Fiction

Clyde’s Calling in Out of Print

The Secret Lives of Goan boys in The Chakkar

Non-fiction

Irani tikkas and the taste of a distant home in The Soup

Poetry

Miracles are mirages in the Middle East in Economic & Political Weekly

How to take a lizard seriously in Silver Birch Press

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I was looking back at my journey from the start and I came up with 5 tips that have helped me sustain my writing over the years:

1-    Be more observant-
My writing became much better after I consciously started living outside my head. I collect my thoughts later while I journal. Constantly thinking about writing instead of living in the moment can be counter-productive.

2-    Write without overthinking-
I judged every word of mine until I couldn’t write anything. Writing without overanalyzing each word helps. You can finish your first draft which you can then revise and polish. The room for improvement builds itself in the second draft.

3-    Narrate your ideas out loud-
If you struggle with writing authentic dialogues, reading them out loud will allow you to be more natural and less conscious about the way your sentences appear on the page.

4-    Seek feedback-
A writer struggles to judge their own work. Honest feedback will help you evolve. If someone reads your work and praises it, probe for constructive criticism. Ask them questions, ‘Did you get bored anywhere?’ ‘Did anything seem irrelevant that might have dragged the story?’ etc.

5-    Experiment-
Try writing in different genres and styles. It will help you see synergies and loopholes in your work. Working in different formats has helped me see my writing more objectively. Take risks and have fun!

Please let me know what has worked for you!

Happy writing and may you achieve all your creative goals this year :)