If You Want to Succeed as a Writer…

Advice to the “new writers” out there

Photo by Content Pixie on Unsplash

I read this thought-provoking piece over coffee this morning:

This is How New Writers are Treated by the Old Ones

My first thought was, “Nobody owes you a damned thing, newbie.” But then I finished the first cup, and poured a second, reminiscing over my days as a new writer. During which time, more experienced and published authors said, repeatedly, “Nobody owes you a damned thing, newbie,” and they were right. “Pay your dues” was a recurrent theme.

But what does that mean, exactly?

1The first step towards being a writer is to be an avid reader. Not a voracious consumer of “how to make money generating online content” or “how to work all the angles on Medium to propel yourself to writing stardom.” Read deeply and widely. Read writing from authors of a different race, gender, or culture than your own. Read classic literature, modern literature, trashy paperbacks, newspapers, books on science, books on travel, books on theoretical physics. Read books on language. If you must read a book on being a writer, start with Rita Mae Brown’s Starting from Scratch.