Most writers, when they first start out, focus on the wrong thing. They read books about marketing, they read articles about having a “space of their own,” (and invest way too much time and money in getting the perfect one), they print up business cards and letterheads, and register businesses (and waste time thinking up names for those businesses), and they talk way, way too much about being blocked.

There are countless people out there with perfect office spaces and comfortable chairs and cards that proclaim them a “Writer for Hire” who have yet to make their first sale.

It doesn’t matter how many editors you meet and network with, because it won’t help you if you’re not at the top of your game. And most writers, me included, are not born putting together perfect prose. It’s practice that makes them that way.

The first thing I did when I decided that I wanted to write, before I bought any books on writing or subscribed to any newsletters, or even searched online for resources on freelancing, was that I downloaded a free practice software, and learned how to touch type. It was annoying initially– I could type faster looking at the keys than I could touch typing– and at the time, there was no real need for it. My deadlines stretched on for weeks, sometimes months. I could take all the time I needed to type. Over the years, my speed has increased to at least 100 wpm, and boy am I grateful for it now!

Despite my initial reluctance (and it still shows up every now and again), I forced myself to call people, editors included. I realized early on that if I couldn’t call an editor– someone who was on my team– how on earth was I going to deal with interview subjects I was investigating who were downright rude, arrogant, and unfriendly? How on earth would I ever get anything from the different government bodies in India (who have a reputation for being rude, arrogant, and unfriendly)?

Marketing is fine, and I did it, but what I really focused on learning was how to find stories, how to do better interviews, how to write faster, how to really get people to open up by asking the right questions, and how to get new information on an old topic.

Now that I’ve had sufficient practice and know how to do some of those things somewhat well, I’ve started focusing more on my weaknesses and finding ways to improve them. The biggest one, and many of you might agree, is taking notes without a recorder. Earlier, most of my interviews were done in person (recorder) or on the phone (I used Skype to record) or e-mail, but these days, I’ve been juggling a lot of pieces simultaneously, and I’ve been doing interviews in the car (I’m not the one driving), on the road, in the middle of dinner when a hard-to-get-hold-of source calls on my phone. I have to take notes, but I’m just so dang slow. So what am I doing now? I’m learning shorthand.

It seems a little weird to be learning shorthand in this day of superfast technology and iPhones, but I’m really wondering why I record and transcribe when I could easily be saving so much time doing both at the same time. And what about when you can’t record– say, in court or when you’ve suddenly arrived in the middle of a potential story?

I think it’s very important to keep learning new skills and adding more tools to your arsenal. But these tools need to be much more than the oft-repeated “market yourself” and “use adverbs sparingly.” After all, what is the point of all that marketing, if you don’t have the tools to deliver what editors want in the timeframe they want it?