"The 7 Deadly Sins" - Article

In the spirit of never giving up and reaching that finish line at the end of the long road that is publishing a book, here's an article that can help to illustrate one view on writing and its pitfalls.

---

THE 7 DEADLY SINS OF WRITING
By: Brian A. Klems

1. Laziness
Intellectual laziness is something all writers are prone to: as in writing the same type of book, and doing it annually.  Like great art, books aren’t ever finished—they’re abandoned. (In other words, don’t just finish writing a first draft and call it a day.)

2. Trying to be a good student
It’s a thrill to rope a lot of cool forensic facts in the research process. But the danger is in going home and regurgitating all of them in your novel—“When really thrillers are all about entertaining. …” Keep that story moving forward.

3. Marching down the outline
This occurs when you sit down to write and follow your outline exactly. Some people use an outline like a frame, and merely embroider within it. Outlining is fine, but sticking too closely to it can stifle your story. “If you do outline, you have to be aware of the problems that that kind of thing can cause."

4. Denying jealousy 
“I try to not allow myself to be jealous of other writers and the books they’ve written,” Rose said—but in fact, she believes it’s a good thing to let some of that jealousy seep through. So don’t bottle it up. “I think it’s really healthy to let yourself have the full range of emotions.”

5. Focusing too heavily on the business
One of Sandford’s friends obsesses over the business end of writing—his friend writes a book, and then gets lost in all of the trappings of business and promotion … “to the exclusion of actually writing novels.”

6. Not reading books 
Reading is essential for writers. A study that said that 23 percent of people in the United States want to be writers. If all of them read 10 books a year, “We’d all be doing a lot better.”

7. Imitation
There is a difference between imitating a book, and being influenced by a book. It’s valuable to figure out why you think certain things work in the books you read, and why others don’t.

---

My sin would be laziness, no negotiations.  
What would your sin be from the list above (or create your own)?  
Leave your answer in the comments below and if you're not a writer leave the topic you're sinning on as well.