Homehttp://www.advicetowriters.com/home/en-US2010-03-12T23:58:50ZSquarespace Site Server v5.9.2 (http://www.squarespace.com/)If You Get Stuck...http://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2010/3/12/if-you-get-stuck.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-12T06:58:50ZIf you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don't just stick there scowling at the problem. But don't make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people's words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.

HILARY MANTEL

]]>Steal!http://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2010/3/11/steal.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-11T05:48:21ZSteal! And egad, serve your best thoughts as gypsies do stolen children, disfigure them and make ‘em pass for their own.

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN

]]>Advice On Dealing with Editorshttp://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2010/3/10/advice-on-dealing-with-editors.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-10T05:06:04Z

My advice on dealing with editors is to say yes to all suggestions unless you want to say no, to ask in those cases if the point might be set aside until later, and to proceed thus until all suggestions have been addressed. At that point, the writer should feel free to insist on having his or her way on the points set aside.

THOMAS POWERS

]]>Imagine How You Will Feel When Your Work Is Publishedhttp://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2010/3/9/imagine-how-you-will-feel-when-your-work-is-published.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-09T05:13:59ZTake a moment to imagine how you will feel when your work is published. Anything that you think will make you uncomfortable or ill at ease…get rid of it. Lose anything that makes you cringe, anything you think is questionable. If you are writing about someone you know in real life and are worried that you are being too mean or maybe you will feel bad and regret it, change or get rid of it. But, at the risk of confusing you entirely, I have also found that sometimes the pieces I write which cause me the most pain and embarrassment are the pieces others like best. Sometimes it is by working through areas of personal discomfort that you stumble to where your own growth is taking place.

MERRILL MARKOE

]]>Don't Try to Guesshttp://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2010/3/8/dont-try-to-guess.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-08T05:05:42ZDon’t try to guess what sort of thing editors want to publish or what you think the country is in a mood to read. Editors and readers don’t know what they want to read until they read it. Besides, they’re always looking for something new.

WILLIAM ZINSSER

]]>Advice to Beginning Reportershttp://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2010/3/7/advice-to-beginning-reporters.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-07T05:07:46ZIf I had to give just one piece of advice to beginning reporters about the single-fastest way they could improve their stories, it'd be to get themselves into the quotes. Asking tough questions. Cajoling the interviewee. Joking with the interviewee. Thinking out loud.

IRA GLASS

]]>Ask A Friendhttp://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2010/3/6/ask-a-friend.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-06T05:08:09ZYou can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You've been backstage. You've seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up.

MARGARET ATWOOD

]]>Success and Failure Are Both Difficulthttp://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2010/3/5/success-and-failure-are-both-difficult.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-05T05:00:26ZSuccess and failure are both difficult to endure. Along with success come drugs, divorce, fornication, bullying, travel, meditation, medication, depression, neurosis and suicide. With failure comes failure.

JOSEPH HELLER

]]>Imagine Your Readers Over Your Shoulderhttp://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2010/3/4/imagine-your-readers-over-your-shoulder.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-04T05:35:58ZWe suggest that whenever anyone sits down to write he should imagine a crowd of his prospective readers (rather than a grammarian in cap and gown) looking over his shoulder. They will be asking such questions as: “What does this sentence mean?” “Why do you trouble to tell me that again?” “Why have you chosen such a ridiculous metaphor?” “Must I really read this long, limping sentence?” “Haven’t you got your ideas muddled here?” By anticipating and listing as many of these questions as possible, the writer will discover certain tests of intelligibility to which he may regularly submit his work before he sends it off to the printer.

ROBERT GRAVES and ALAN HODGE

]]>The Secret of Getting Aheadhttp://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2010/3/3/the-secret-of-getting-ahead.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-03T05:34:19ZThe secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.
MARK TWAIN

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