Every week, Quips and Tips for Successful Writers features “Writing Quips and Tips From Successful Published Author X.” J.K. Rowling is up to bat this week; on deck for next week is Truman Capote.

These quips and tips from J.K. Rowling reveal all (almost) — including her opinion that finding an agent is preferable to approaching publishers directly with your novel or nonfiction book idea.

Before Rowling’s tips, a quip:

“It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends,” she says.

This isn’t a profound writing quip from Rowling…or is it? I’ve had to stand up to friends in defense of my writing time and habits (some even call my writing an “obsession”). Not feeling supported by your friends and family is harder to deal with than flack from an enemy! So, there you have Rowling’s first quip for writers (and my interpreted writing tip).

To learn more about Rowling, click on Marc Shapiro’s J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind the Harry Potter. And, read on for J.K. Rowling’s quips and tips about writing…

Writing Quips and Tips From J.K. Rowling

Writing doesn’t always get easier. In fact, it can be more difficult for successful writers. “I wrote what I thought was half the book and suddenly realized that there was this huge, gaping hole in the middle of the plot,” says Rowling in J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind the Harry Potter. “The whole profile of the books got so much higher since the third one and there was an edge of external pressure.” Rowling delivered the manuscript of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire two months late.

Even after you find an agent, it can take years to get published. “It took a year for my agent, Christopher, to find a publisher. Lots of them turned it down. Then, finally, in August 1996, Christopher telephoned me and told me that Bloomsbury had ‘made an offer.’ I could not quite believe my ears. ‘You mean it’s going to be published?’ I asked, rather stupidly. ‘It’s definitely going to be published?’”

What you write becomes who you are…so make sure you love what you write! “The writing of Harry Potter has been inextricably linked with my life for seventeen years, and saying goodbye has been just as tough as I always knew it would be.” If you tackle a novel or nonfiction book, you’ll be living and breathing it for years. Start out in love, fellow scribes.

Sometimes you have to get your writing done in spare moments here and there. You hear it all the time — because it works. “Whenever Jessica fell asleep in her pushchair I would dash to the nearest cafe and write like mad. I wrote nearly every evening. Then I had to type the whole thing out myself. Sometimes I actually hated the book, even while I loved it.” Remember that successful writers take every chance they can get to write — even just 10 minutes or an hour a day.

Not everything successful writers produce is publishable. When asked if she’s written anything other than Harry Potter, Rowling said, “Yes, quite a lot, though none of it is published (which is no loss, I assure you). The first things I wrote were the Rabbit stories, which were about a rabbit called Rabbit. I wrote them between the ages of six and eight. Then when I was eleven I wrote a novel about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them. Since then I’ve written loads: short stories, bits of novels for adults, all kinds of things.”

J.K. Rowling’s tips on getting published:

Firstly, you need to write something that a publisher would want to publish (it only takes one, but it might take a while to find them. If you are turned down by every single publisher in existence, you will have to consider the possibility that what you have written is not publishable).

Next, you need to approach the publisher, either directly, or (which is advisable if you can manage it) by securing an agent who will act on your behalf. The best way to find agents’ and publishers’ addresses is to consult Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2010 (Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook), which is updated every year. (Double-check that you are writing to the right person/people; don’t, for example, send science fiction to a publisher of medical textbooks.)

Wait. Pray. This is the way Harry Potter got published.

Do you have any questions or thoughts on J.K. Rowling’s quips and tips? Please comment below! If you’re submitting a manuscript to an agent or publisher, you might find 6 Tips for Submitting Sample Chapters to Publishers helpful.

Unless otherwise indicated, these writing quips and tips are from J.K. Rowling’s official website.

~ Resources for Writers & Bloggers ~

Want to make your blog "sticky", so visitors stay longer? Try this beta "Click and Stick" program -- it's free!

But before you can entice visitors to stick to your blog, you need to learn a bit of search engine optimization. Scribe SEO offers information for web writers, bloggers, and affiliate marketers.

And, to find more freelance writing and editing jobs, consider joining GoFreelance.