Goodreads asked Dan Needles:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Dan Needles Strategically, this is a marathon, not a sprint; it is about the journey, not the destination; it is about investing in yourself, not in a single novel. If you look at every pebble (aka novel) you will steer yourself off the road and into a ditch. Instead, look down the road several years, even decades and just drive.

On the tactical side realize there are 3 things: writing, distribution, and marketing. The thing in your control is writing. This is what is familar in this journey and I hate to say it - the easy part. The other two areas are what happens when you, like characters in your book, enter the "magical" world and fate is thrust upon you. This world is not "artist" oriented. It is not about what you can thrust onto the world, male-like, yang-like, etc. Instead you must take what is there and be creative with what you are handed. This is sales oriented, feminine, yin-like. That is why this is where the challenge is. Like all of life (and every hero's journey in every story ever told) you are forced to transform yourself. You must die to yourself and become something new. And distribution and marketing are dark cave you must enter if you are serious about what you want to do. It helps to be aware of this.

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