Goodreads asked Barbara Kay:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Barbara Kay Read a lot. Ask yourself why you gravitate to certain authors. Ask yourself what it is about their writing that attracts you. There is no shame in "copying" a style for practice. Your own style will assert itself eventually. Write small. Write micro-pieces. Circulate your micro-pieces to people you trust for honest criticism. Develop a tough hide for criticism. Accept that you will fail more than succeed if you are at the beginning of your writing career. Embrace failure by learning at least one salient fact about it that you can apply to your next effort. Write something every day, even if it is a well thought-out email. I write long emails to a few select friends from whom I love getting well-written emails back. Correspondance is still writing.

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