Goodreads asked R.W. Van Sant:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

R.W. Van Sant The answer to this one is both easy and often misunderstood. I used to hear it and think I was being given a pat answer, to brush me off. Ready. My advice is to write and finish something, don't care about how good or bad it is. Trust me, it will be bad, accept it and expect to make it better in re-write. Yes, you will have to rewrite, many, many times. You will have to get advice and criticism, then rewrite again. And remember you are a writer, not because other people tell you are, but simply because that is what you do, you write, it is part of who you are. Accept that part of yourself and let yourself be a writer.

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