Advice For Aspiring Writers

I love giving bad writing advice. 

• When you want to quit, remember why you started.
• You don’t have to get your story right the first time. Or the fifteenth.
• Your piece should be as long as it needs to be. No more. No less.
• Read what you want, when you want, where you want. Just read something.
• Write often. Even when you don’t feel like it.
• Turn off your inner critic while writing. Turn on the critic while editing. 
• Let that idea in your head make it into the paper. A bad page is better than a blank one. 
• Have fun with the first draft. It doesn’t have to be perfect. First drafts are supposed to suck. Editing exists for a reason.
• Get better and better with every failure. Not trying is worse than failing.
• Adjust. Change what doesn’t work. Improve what does.
• Stop worrying. You’re wasting time you’ll never get back.
• Make the most of what you have. Even and especially when you don’t have much. 
• Keep learning. Don’t ever stop learning.
• Live your life. Then relive your life through writing. 
• Never settle for anything less than your best. Why do anything if you aren’t going to give it your all?

I also love soliciting good writing advice.

Last Week Of NaNoWriMo—A Survival Guide

1. Eat good, nutritious food. On second thought, try to.
2. Avoid looking like a zombie once December rolls around. Hint: sleep.
3. Kill your inner critic. Literally. You can always revive him/her/it later.
4. Sit your derriere into your chair. Use glue if you must.
5. Abandon everything, okay fine, not everything. You know what I mean. Go write. Right now.

I can’t wait to see your lovely faces (not your I-haven’t-slept-in-four-weeks-so-I’m-gradually-turning-into-a-zombie one) and your beautiful manuscripts. Yes, your manuscript is beautiful. You’ll most likely make it more beautiful in due time. But first you need to finish. If you’ve already finished, you can disregard half of this post.

Good luck even though most of you don’t need luck.

Have a wonderful last week of November, which should really be called National Novel Writing Month by everyone. Non-writers especially.

Day 28—NaNoWriMo: What are your plans for December?

Sleep. Eat. Repeat.

Sleep. Read. Sleep.

Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

You deserve a reward for working so hard in November.

You also deserve a break from your inner editor/critic.

You most of all deserve to be satisfied with your writing.

So do whatever you would like to do in the month of December in celebration. Besides, this is your life. And if anyone tries to tell you something different, they’ll have to put up with the wrath of a writer.

And we all know a writer is capable of many things. Like finishing a novel in one month. Am I right?

The end is near. Keep going. Keep writing.