About a year ago we gathered together some excellent advice for aspiring writers from our writing coaches and consultants, set them to some fun Muzak, and offered them as Parts 1 and 2 of a video series called “Words of Wisdom For the Aspiring Writer.”
Since those videos posted we’ve taken on even more wonderful writing coaches, and they too have some hot tips for those of us looking for a little writing inspiration.
“Show your work!” they tell us. “Read and live!” “Engage in the process!” And, of course, do that thing with your butt.
“Let yourself love writing for itself and in and of itself. Love the narratives you want to create, the stories that are burning in you to be told, the rhythms of the sentences, the feel of the words on your tongue, the music of the syllables, love these for their own sake and allow yourself to step out of the
way and give the process permission to happen."
-Resa Alboher
“At the risk of stating the obvious, write. Like Maupassant said, 'Put black on white.' I don’t think we really figure anything out unless we’re engaged in the process, since for many of us, the process of writing is actually the process of deciphering the process itself, of learning how we write.”
-Tom Andes
“Get your butt in the chair.”
-Carolyn Cohagan
“Write as much as you can until you get something decent. Then revise it and revise it and revise it. Put a piece away for a couple months when you finish a draft. Have several pieces going so you can always have something to work on while other projects are incubating. Whenever I look back at something
I’ve put away I can’t believe I ever thought it was finished.”
-Lydia Conklin
“Don’t be afraid to show your work to others! I meet a lot of people who tell me they write, but never show it to anyone because they feel it’s no good. I always tell them the only way to get better as a writer, other than writing a lot, is showing your work to others and getting their opinions. Workshops
are the single best thing for me as a writer. They force you to not only produce more work, but to let go of your writing and allow others to critique it; and other people always notice something you don’t. So show your work!”
-Chris Mattix
“Read and live. I find it impossibly difficult to write what I know when I don’t know anything.”
-Tatiana Ryckman
To learn more about Resa, Tom, Carolyn, Lydia, Chris, Tatiana, or any of our other talented writing coaches and consultants, visit our Staff page, where you’ll find bios and Q&As for every member.
Justine Tal Goldberg
Owner, WriteByNight
P.S. If you know someone who might
benefit from today's message, please feel free to forward this email along. Go on, help a writer out.
P.P.S. For those of you in the Austin, TX area, the next In Short Fiction Workshop meets on Saturday, June 13. Seats are limited. Learn more and register now!
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