Goodreads asked Mark Hayden:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Mark Hayden Just write. That's the most important thing.
After that, I would say the best advice I can give is:
* Read. A lot.
* Join a writing group - not a virtual one, but a real one which has meetings. I thoroughly recommend this.
* Fairly early in your career, find someone who knows what they're talking about to look at your work. This should be someone who is really, really not afraid to tell you the truth. This rules out all relatives and most friends. You need to know how far from the finished article you are.
* Find literate readers to look at your work.
* Unless you're very, very lucky you won't get a publishing deal. The odds against this will be lower if you are young, female and writing for a young female audience.
* Therefore, have a plan B for getting your book to market!

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