Smarty Pants

What one piece of advice do you wish someone had given you before you began writing your first novel? – From The Secret Miracle, edited by Daniel Alarcon

Rabih Alameddine: Don’t do it.

Susan Minot: Advice is pertinent only when it rings true, which means you somehow know it already. Maybe: “It always takes longer than you think it will and usually goes past the point when you are interested in it, but that doesn’t mean you can stop. Keep going.”

Andrew Sean Greer: Don’t listen to anybody; you ar...