The Real Writing Secrets

Credit to: George Wier, Owner/CEO at Flagstone Books (2011-present) [Quora]

1. Reviews don’t matter, criticism doesn’t matter. Only continuing to write, continuing to hone your skills matters;

2. Writer’s block doesn’t exist. Only a dearth of projects can exist, so if you’re working on several projects, you can easily switch to another when you are balked by the current project;

3. Success isn’t the destination—success IS the journey;

4. There really isn’t such a thing as a bad story idea or bad concept; there is only bad writing;

5. There are no hard and fast rules for writing. Throw out all the “rules” and you’ll be free to actually write;

6. All editors, critics, and self-proclaimed “experts” are failed writers. Don’t listen to them. The corollary to this is that you will likely not learn how to write from attending a writing school. Factually, you will learn there that you cannot write, and that’s about all you’re likely to learn;

7. If you for a minute listen to someone holding forth on “how to write,” thereafter you will find you cannot write until you flush every word they have said out of your system. It’s your language; you can read it and speak it, so you may as well write it. Okay, that’s about it for now.