1. Putting it off

If you want to be a writer, you’ve got to actually sit down and write. Or stand, or lie down, or hang from the ceiling if you’d rather, but if you don’t get the words from your head to the paper, there’s no point. It’s very easy to procrastinate from writing; there’s actually nothing easier. There’s always some reason not to write right now. The dog needs water. Your kid wants to play. You feel uninspired. Your desk is too messy. But if you really want to write, you cannot allow yourself to postpone your work for any reason. Set a time for yourself to get down to work, and when that time comes, be firm with yourself. Do not let anything stop you.

If you find you aren’t getting down to work, don’t make the mistake of blaming your family for it. They’re not the ones who need to do the writing, you are! If all you do is make excuses and blame others, you are not a writer. Because writers actually write.

Now you may have some vague idea that being a writer is a lazy job. You get to sit at home, eating whatever’s in the fridge, turning on the television when you feel like it, writing when you feel the muse. It’s just not true. If you wait for inspiration to hit, you’ll be waiting for years. Quit procrastinating and treat it like the real job that it is.

2. Long Descriptions

Leave out the long descriptions from your writing. Why? Because nobody likes to read them. I mean, really, say the flower is beautiful, but don’t describe every petal. Give me the atmosphere of the restaurant without naming every item on the menu. Sure, it adds to your word count to have long descriptions, and you may have a word count you’re shooting for, but your editor (if he’s good) will cut it. Save yourself the grief and be concise in your writing.

This is not to say that you should leave out all descriptions. Your reader needs some idea of what the characters look like. Just get it over with as quickly as possible and get on with the action of the story.