The most important lesson I learned is to thoroughly plan from the outset. I would have saved myself considerable effort and time.
The most important lesson I learned is to thoroughly plan from the outset. I would have saved myself considerable effort and time.
The important lessons I learned from writing are time management and perseverance. Time management in my scenario is similar to how Adrian put it i.e. to thoroughly plan from the outset.
Perseverance is the other lesson I learned in writing. I am aware that writing is never easy and that I am bound to make mistakes along the way. Thus I have to have the perseverance to hang on to deal with the mistakes made, to do some research as mentioned by Jonathan and of course, to re-write my piece is if it is not a satisfactory piece.
I learned:
(i) Never expect to end up with a manuscript completely free of errors. There's no such thing
(ii) Research, research, research. And always check before you push the button - published authors' factual glitches frequently make me squirm.
(iii) Always hope, but never expect, your work to do well. Pleasant surprises are far nicer than nasty shocks.
I could go on, but the wife says I'm boring enough ;)
Nothing is indispensable - no clever sentence, witty comment or intense interaction. If it doesn't fit, don't work round it - lose it!