Goodreads asked Jennifer Greene:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Jennifer Greene If you want to write, WRITE. Don't waste your breath saying you don't have time or you don't know how and all that la de da. Do it. Make time for it. The only way you can grow as a writer--and to discover if you really want to be a writer -- is to do the work.
Most people want to 'be a writer' but they don't want to write. If you don't want to write, this career would be painful and discouraging. No one learns to write by wishing they could. It takes draft on draft on draft. Throwing all that out and starting again. I had six manuscripts in the closet before I sent out to publishers. (But at this point I've written/sold somewhere around 87 books.)
Not saying that to discourage you but to encourage you. If you just thought all you'd need was to put the words down once and send it in, you're not likely to 'hit' success--at least most of us having. If you know that you need practice and skills and that you can be ruthless about your craft--it won't seem so terrible to know you need to do rewriting. It can be satisfying. Creatively and personally. You wouldn't want a brain surgeon to pick up a scalpel before he went to med school, would you? Love the work and it'll love you back. Give it a chance.

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