Goodreads asked Ian Kirkpatrick:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Ian Kirkpatrick Nothing you've never heard before. Read a lot. Write a lot. Read what you want to write. Find authors whose styles you like. Read outside of your genre. You'll pick up so much more than you know by reading. Then, once you've read, write, you'll only learn how to put a story together by writing.

And most importantly, be kind to yourself. Set goals, big ones, small ones, ones you can accomplish daily, and don't beat yourself up if you miss one. Tomorrow is another day. You don't have to write every day, but you do have to be diligent, forgiving, and give yourself finish lines you can see to KNOW you're moving forward. Without regular goals, it can feel like you're trying to stop a boat from sinking with an 8 oz cup.

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