Scott Edward Anderson
I have 7 pieces of advice for aspiring writers:
1.) Read the best writing you can find and as much of it as you can find. 2.) Write every day. How much? Graham Greene famously said he wrote 500 words a day and would stop at the 500th word. Ezra Pound said a poet should write 75 lines a day, which amount to about the same thing, depending upon line length.
3.) Find one or two or a small group of writers with whom to share your work. Take their constructive criticism to heart and be ruthless with your own writing.
4.) Don't be afraid to write a bad first draft.
5.) Revise, revise, revise.
6.) Don't worry about publication, concentrate on your writing. Good writing will always find a home.
7.) Always remember what poet Walter Lowenfels said, "One reader is a miracle; two, a mass movement."
1.) Read the best writing you can find and as much of it as you can find. 2.) Write every day. How much? Graham Greene famously said he wrote 500 words a day and would stop at the 500th word. Ezra Pound said a poet should write 75 lines a day, which amount to about the same thing, depending upon line length.
3.) Find one or two or a small group of writers with whom to share your work. Take their constructive criticism to heart and be ruthless with your own writing.
4.) Don't be afraid to write a bad first draft.
5.) Revise, revise, revise.
6.) Don't worry about publication, concentrate on your writing. Good writing will always find a home.
7.) Always remember what poet Walter Lowenfels said, "One reader is a miracle; two, a mass movement."
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