Words of Advice from a Published Writer

I just got back from a book signing. Sarah Dessen spoke at Barnes and Noble along with two other fabulous writers. I was excited to go simply because I'd been wanting to go to a Sarah Dessen event since she is local to the general area, but none of her previous signings this summer worked out with my schedule. It made me even happier to realize this week that the focus was to talk about the writing process. Sweet, best topic I love to listen to.

I'm actually a big fan of Sarah Dessen. They have this quality that is hard to define. They are so enjoyable to read. They are definitely not fluff. They address harder issues, but they also have a literary quality to them. I knew that it would mostly be teens there and it was. I'm starting to feel old, but I didn't care. It was so worth going.

Sage words of wisdom gathered.

Write every day at the same time.

Everyone writes a novel differently. (Sarah doesn't use an outline, just has a general direction in mind.)

Keep at it.

Realize that your first draft isn't the last draft.

Don't keep reediting every sentence into perfection in your first draft.

They also talked about how none of the writer's thinking workshopping a novel is effective until it is completely finished.

So this week is an excellent week. It was a great session and then I'm headed off to the writer's conference this weekend. Everything is local so I feel very spoiled although I'm sure Rob feels slightly abandoned. Hey, he had DragonCon and he's going hiking in October.

So what's your favorite piece of writing advice?