One of the most common mistakes new writers make is trying to start their career with a book. That's like starting your education in graduate school. Start small. Write for the joy of it, to see your name in print, even if you're giving your work away or being paid in copies. You need to work countless clichés out of your system, tone writing muscles and learn both the business and the craft.

I always encourage writers to approach magazines and newspapers and get experience writing articles before tackling their novels. See what your stuff looks like in print, and be your own toughest critic.

Learn everything there is to know about how to submit your material, then start small. Write for local publications, and when you have scored some clips, try regional magazines, then national. You'll stub your toe occasionally, but you'll learn. You'd be surprised at how many submissions magazine editors get from people who don't even know to double-space their work.

An even larger issue is trying to write on issues beyond your grasp as a beginner—writing a memoir when you're only in your twenties, for instance. While your story may be huge and significant, you'll need years of mature reflection before you can make sense of it and present it so it will have a real impact on readers. Even if you're a mature thinker already, are you far enough along with your writing skills to do justice to the topic?

I have been a church-going Christian all my life, and attended Bible college right out of high school, but even today I wouldn't dream of trying to tackle theological and biblical subjects on my own. If Dr. Tim LaHaye can be honest and self-aware enough to admit that—despite his many considerable gifts and abilities—he's not a fiction writer, I must concede that I'm no scholar or theologian.

As a magazine editor, I once received a letter from a teenager querying me on a 1,500-word, first-person piece entitled "The Meaning of the Universe." Attempting such a project is akin to my trying to write a brief essay that would solve the conflict in Northern Ireland. There may well be those with experience and expertise and legitimate insight into that, but I'm not one of them.

We write to learn, but let's remember that a little knowledge can be dangerous. Either make thorough use of interviews with experts in the area you wish to write about, or stick to what you really know.