This advice was given by Anastasia Gonis, well known reviewer and writer for those who hope to write for young readers.

                                 I thought them  splendid enough to place on my blog.

1.Attend as many workshops/writing classes for beginners/emerging writers so you can fully understand the rules and demands of a writing life, if this is the new path you have chosen. This is imperative!

2.U3A has many of them and you need to look into what’s available. There are also Community Houses that run writing lessons, and so does the CAE (Council for Adult Education) state writer  centres and  other worthy organizations.

 3.Buy a Style Guide, the latest edition, so you can learn about how to structure sentences, paragraphs, grammar and the rest. You can refer to it for hyphenated words, capital letters, punctuation and all the style of correct writing.

4.Read the age group and genre that you are writing for. This is the best research. Learn about Australian Children’s Writers’ lives. This will give you important information that you can apply to your own life. It will also teach you how difficult but rewarding, perfecting this craft can be. Go into their sites. Quite often, they have writing tips and advice available.

5. Be patient with yourself. You’ll learn that nothing is right the first time. Redrafting and perfecting any type of writing is a lengthy process. See it as a challenge.

6. Show, don’t tell, is the cardinal rule of writing. You will learn what this means in the workshops, along with the endless list of Dos and Don’ts in writing that will form your work.

7.Regulate your computer for Australian English if you haven’t already done so, and let the Spell Check be your best friend, but the dictionary should always be at hand.

8. Cut back on the adjectives and metaphors. Find an original way of using language so that you stand out from the crowd.

9. Watch your tenses.

10. Number your pages, so that when you are redrafting, you can note where you need change.