Stephen King once said, "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." To be a writer, you need to read. Read often. Read widely. Read what you know you'll love. Read what you think you'll hate. Fill your head with...
Write what you know? It's hard to think of a writing cliche more prevalent than, "Write what you know!" The problem is that it's not well understood and that confusion has lead many a would-be writer astray. Should you write what you know? Well, yes and no. Write what...
I have talked to so many would-be writers whose writing dreams stalled before they had begun and all for the same reason: when they started writing, what they wrote was so bad they just couldn't continue. What if they just weren't good enough to be a writer? What if...
Comparisons and competition Back in school, what were you told every time you took a test? Eyes on your own paper! And yet, as we test the waters of our writing life, we can't seem to resist taking a peek at what our neighbor is doing. Your favorite books have been...
How fast do you write? Do you know your actual your words per minute? It's worth figuring out for setting deadlines and planning projects. It's particularly handy for when you see an opportunity you want to submit to because you can figure out whether you can...
What does Butt in chair mean? A bit of writing advice you'll see a lot is, "Butt in chair!" But what the heck does that mean? I can do a heck of a lot of things with my butt in a chair that have nothing whatsoever to do with writing! I also do a fair amount of writing...
Once you've given yourself permission to write, you'll realize that's not enough. Because it's one thing to say, "Yes, I will write!" and another to do it. You've already got a whole life crammed into 24 hours a day, and there are zillions of things vying for your...
"It sounds amazing in my head but when I write it down, it's terrible!" Does this sound familiar? You've got this fantastic scene in mind, the whole thing is just RIGHT THERE fully formed in your head, and all you need to do is write it down! You rush to your...
It starts somehow Sometimes you sit down, butt in chair, just like you're supposed it and... you've got nothing. Or you've got something, but it’s stuck in your head, and you can't seem to get any of the words down the page. And all the while, the blank page just sits...
Do you consider yourself a writer? Do you feel comfortable calling yourself one now? One of the most common mental hang-ups I've seen in beginning writers is this reluctance to call themselves a writer... "yet." There's always some arbitrary benchmark they've set up...
Hillary DePiano is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer who loves writing of all kinds except for writing bios like this.
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