By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills

We’ve all read posts about how to improve our writing skills in hopes something will trigger our creativity into a position on the bestseller’s list. Admit it, we want that coveted spot. I can’t promise you my tips will be extraordinary or career-changing, but I can assure you they work for many published authors. A few suggestions might have been brought to your attention before, but inclusion in the list below deems its importance. A suggestion could mean more work on our part, but isn’t reaching our dreams and goals worth the risks and sacrifices?

Let’s get started. Something might jump off the page and into your writerly habits. Tips to help us be the writers God purposed before the creation of the world.

1. Understand who is the Boss. Writing may be termed self-employment but that doesn’t mean we tell God how to manage our work.
2. Pray before we touch our fingers to the keyboard or wrap our fingers around our favorite pen. Seek guidance in our personal and professional lives.
3. Accept the priorities God has directed for us.
4. Embrace writing as a ministry. Our calling is holy, sacred, and etched in heaven.
5. Educate ourselves daily in the craft, social media, marketing, promotion, and branding.
6. Read. Read. Yes, this is a familiar tip, but the results will manifest in our writing. Read the Bible. Read in our genre. Read the bestsellers. Read those items about the writing industry. Read everything we can get our hands on.
7. Familiarize ourselves with those who are affluent in the industry. Follow them on their social media and learn from them.
8. Attend in-person and online conferences instructed by respected members of the publishing industry.
9. Settling for a first draft means we have no value for our craft. Write. Edit. Rewrite. Repeat.
10. Refuse to pass along to a critique partner a manuscript that is not our best. A critique partner is not in place to clean up our messes.
11. Give back to serious writers whatever we learn.
12. Giving up without God’s assurance of something unique and better for us is . . . wrong

Twelve tips for improving our writing skills. Is there a tip you’ve learned that you’d like to share with us?

DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She weaves memorable characters with unpredictable plots to create action-packed, suspense-filled novels. DiAnn believes every breath of life is someone’s story, so why not capture those moments and create a thrilling adventure?

Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards, the Golden Scroll, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests.

DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, an active member of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Mystery Writers of America, the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. DiAnn continues her passion of helping other writers be successful. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country.

DiAnn has been termed a coffee snob and roasts her own coffee beans. She’s an avid reader, loves to cook, and believes her grandchildren are the smartest kids in the universe. She and her husband live in sunny Houston, Texas.

DiAnn is very active online and would love to connect with readers on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, BookBub, YouTube, LinkedIn. or her website: diannmills.com