The Qualities of a Good Writer - 5 Personal Work Habits a Good Writer Needs

There's a difference between being a talented writer and being a good writer.

Talented writers are able to write well. They can tell a story well. They can explain a process or opinion well. A talented writer can use words properly and yet knows when words should be misused for greatest effect. A talented writer knows what a target reader wants from a book. A talented writer can spell properly. A talented writer can string words together in seemingly endless patterns.

The difference is that good writers do.

Ultimately, good writers sit down and write. Talented writers merely carry their talent around in the baggage of their day to day existence.

But what are the work habits that allow talented writers to become good writers?

The first is that a good writer must be willing to schedule time to write. Writing is hard work. And if you don't schedule time then you will always find other things to do. Things like reading which is much easier and more enjoyable. Or sitting in a coffee shop and pretending to be researching the street life.

Secondly, a writer must be able to focus on the task at hand. Thoughts have a habit of drifting off as you sit staring at the blank page. Blank pages are the enemy to the good writer. They must be filled with letters and words and sentences and in their time paragraphs. But to do that you need to be able to focus on getting the words down on the page. Disciplined enough to avoid those stray thoughts that are inevitably more interesting than those you're currently typing on the page.

Third, a writer must be able to concentrate on what they are doing. Focus is your mental compass... directing your mind towards your writing and away from stray thoughts. But concentration is your ability to ignore external stimuli. The noise of the coffee shop. The car horn on the street outside your office window. The sun on your face and the soft breeze. Or the barbeque smoke. A good writer needs to be disciplined enough to continue to write despite the desire to escape either to universe inside or to the world outside.

Fourth, a writer must be strong willed enough to ignore interruptions. It's not enough that you want to escape to your own world -- either inside or out. But there are people around you that seem to be determined to stop your creativity. Let's be positive -- perhaps not intentionally. Though they certainly seem to be persistent if it isn't by intent. A good writer must be strong enough to say, "This is MY writing time. You shall not intrude."

And strong enough to make it stick.

Finally, at least for this article, a writer must be willing to practice and to critique the results. After all, if you don't practice you won't get better. And if you don't know where you are making mistakes, you'll never correct those mistakes.