Reading, Learning and Writing

Image courtesy of Master / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I use DreamWeaver software to create my websites (except this blog, of course) and this week I upgraded from DreamWeaver 5.5 to DreamWeaver 6. It was quite a learning curve to understand how to use the upgraded software and I had to sit and watch videos and read articles of how to use all the new features.

So I took an afternoon off from doing writing tasks and household chores to sit down and learn what I needed to know.

And this pretty much sums up being a writer because we read and learn as well as write, which all works to make us better writers.

I've been working as a professional writer for many years now and it's how I earn all my income.

And a lot of my time is spent not only writing, but reading and learning.

I've completed courses on different types of writing, website creation and even learned how to do yoga and meditation to help me stay healthy and calm my mind, which is absolutely important to me and the way I work. I've also dived further into a minimalist lifestyle.

Over the years I've attended live writing webinars, interviewed other writers, read copious amounts of books about writing and being creative and even purchased non-writing related products such as a Himalayan Salt Lamp to deal with the balance of ions in the room when I'm writing.

Being a writer is an ongoing process of learning and moving forward.

The world of writing changes quickly with the introduction of new softwares, websites, language use and ways of publishing. Also attitudes to writing and reading have changed. For instance, gone are the days when you had to be grammatically correct in absolutely everything you wrote such as whether to write who or whom.

So if you want to keep up to date you need to keep reading and learning all the time.

But that's not to say that you should follow everything that you read or learn and do exactly everything it says. Instead, let it all guide you and help to spark ideas that will help you keep moving forward and writing more and earning more money from your writing. In other words, only do what works for you.

I have supplied a huge list of writing resources that can help you over at http://writeaholics.net/writinghelp.html. Even if you don't want to purchase anything it can help just to go on over and browse through the list of available products to let it help spark new ideas for your writing.

If you have time, a great idea is to visit your local library and search the non-fiction section for books about writing, or audio books or even DVDs that you can borrow. While you're there you can browse through the magazines for freelance writing opportunities, and you might even find new magazines that you didn't even know about.

I often use the library's reference copy of the Writers & Artists Year Book to find new freelance writing opportunities. They always have the most up-to-date copy, plus a few similar reference books that are useful too.

So this week I've been busy learning how to use DreamWeaver 6 and learnt how much simpler it makes website design, even designing for different sized screens (phone, tablet, desktop). It's all so fascinating.

But I still have much to learn because eventually, I want to create a membership site from scratch and I want to build it using DreamWeaver. I know it's a big idea and I have no idea about building such  site at the moment but I'm prepared to learn.

And I hope you keep on learning too.