advice to writers (for the writer who is tired of advice)

Back when I first started my blog, officially entering the wild and wonderful Blogosphere, I used to write blog post after blog post of writing advice, thinking I had so much to share. And somehow, I did. Maybe it was just the trend at the time—it seemed like everyone and their mother had writing tips to share and I gobbled it down like a hungry squirrel*.

I subscribed to I don’t know how many YouTube channels and newsletters and websites, waiting for that final epiphany, that elixir that would really truly change the game.

Honestly, I’m not sure I ever found it.

A few years have passed, and I see things a little differently now. I don’t seek out writing advice the same way I used to. And it’s not because I don’t value it. 

Nor is it because I regret spending so much time reading books and articles and watching videos on how to grow grow grow…because I DID learn so much. 

I think what changed is I started writing writing writing and I didn’t stop, and I got thrown into the trenches until suddenly I had a publication date and a KDP account and a whole group of authors counting on me to contribute to their series.

And that’s when my head knowledge got tested. (Is still being tested.) I had to start at square one, look at that blinking cursor and realize that no matter how much I “knew,” it was still up to me to figure it out for myself.

You can read all you want about how to start a book.

It’s useless unless you pick up your pencil and start it for yourself.

*it’s a scientific fact that squirrels are very hungry creatures

so what’s my advice?

#1. it’s up to you.

You get to decide how you want to write your book, and what to write about, and your why. You can Google answers all you want, but spoiler alert, you won’t find what you’re looking for. It’s inside you. 

Read. Learn. Study. Copy. Read some more. Learn some more. Study some more. Copy some more.

And then throw all of that away and write. Write that first short story, that first novella, that first novel, that first trilogy. And slowly, painfully, you’ll discover what actually works for you. There is no cheat sheet. Writing is just like anything else. You have to slave at it to be good. (Unfortunately. But you already knew that, didn’t you?)

Keep your mind open and experiment. Try plotting intensively, try pantsing recklessly, and somewhere in the chaos, you’ll find your rhythm – which will be unlike anyone else’s. Just take a look at your favorite authors – it’s wild how different each author’s process is. Find your own, and claim it.

There’s a universe of tips out there, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed in the noise. One person says that, another person says this. 

Like me, you might have to write 400+ pages of a novel before you realize that you need to scrap it all and start over. But you won’t regret it, because every sentence and paragraph and chapter, cringey as they are, brings you closer to your dream.

Case study: my *current* writing rhythm involves cycling between three different WIPs. I make a linguistic ecosystem (basically aesthetic word banks to nail down the prose and tone) for each book and do loose outlining. I don’t need music to write, but I do need to know the aesthetic and color palette of the book before I write it (Pinterest is my bff). I go back and forth on making character profiles, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I also edit as I go, and usually write linearly.

#2. take breaks.

2024 was the most stressful writing experience I’ve had. I lost sleep over deadlines and stayed up into the wee hours of the morning pounding away at my keyboard, wondering if my book was any good at all.

(I grew so much as a writer through that.)

After all of it was over, my creativity froze. For nearly six months, I barely wrote a single word. 

And the times I would try to write, I felt exhausted, like I’d been running up a mountain.

So I rested in what ways I could, battling the idea that I was a fraud. Hardly able to comprehend how I had just written an entire book the year before, when now I didn’t even have it in me to finish a single chapter.

Then, I fell in love with writing again.

It was a slow, frustrating process with so many ups and downs, but I finally arrived. The long winter was over, and I was in summer bliss, overjoyed that I had my spark back. 

I HATED it, but that burnout was the reset I needed.

The life of an author is work work work, but don’t forget to rest. (Or this^ might happen.) Eventually (it may take months, or even years) you’ll come back revived and restored. God rested on the seventh day, and so should you.

#3. be humble.

This should be number one, but I didn’t want to scare you away. 😛 I didn’t want to admit this, but I had a lot of room for growth in this department back when I was in my Pre-Publication Phase. I’d written a lot, but I hadn’t published anything, and I thought I knew more than I did. Especially in terms of marketing. 

I looked down on authors who didn’t do a lot of promotion around their book, who made mistakes, typos, errors that I thought were easy catches, who rushed into publication, you name it. I had to fail publicly before I started to learn my lesson:

• I missed the deadline for A Noble Princess
• I didn’t do much of any marketing or promotion around release date
• I had plenty of typos in the published books
• I was behind on everything you could possibly have been behind on 
• I set my ARCs to my reviewers way later than I should have
• I didn’t have time to apply edits to the ending of my story

Now, I laugh when I see a typo in my published writing. I’m human, and it’s not even just normal—it’s expected. God definitely humbled me, and He used my surrender to His glory. Because of my many mistakes, I can honestly, without any conscious pride, give all credit to God for any success my book has garnered.

Be humble. Accept help as well as compliments. Admit your mistakes. Seek constructive criticism. Believe that you’re just a clay vessel in the hand of the Potter, and you’ll go far.

---

This isn’t what I would have wanted to hear when I was fifteen years old and making lists of how to write dialogue and romance and fight scenes and plots. But it’s what I needed, and what I’ve finally learned through a bit of experience. I’d love to know, what lessons are you learning right now? Have you ever experienced extreme burnout? What is your current writing rhythm?

Disclaimer: I want to reiterate that I am in no way hating on the writers and bloggers who share writing advice. It’s invaluable. Keep it coming.