Kit Alloway
I only have two pieces of advice. The first is, keep writing. Make time for it. Find time. Schedule it in a date book, find a buddy to keep you accountable. It doesn't matter if what you write is terrible; if you keep writing, you're guaranteed to improve.
Second, learn to edit. I believe that 20% of writing is that first draft and 80% is editing it. This is actually good news, because while writing an entire novel (or even an entire short story) might feel overwhelming, editing only requires you to work on one sentence at a time. It's so important. I know that editing isn't popularly thought of as exciting or fun, but the longer I do it, the more satisfying I find it. It frees up my first draft, too, because I know that even if I write something dreadful, I can fix it later.
Second, learn to edit. I believe that 20% of writing is that first draft and 80% is editing it. This is actually good news, because while writing an entire novel (or even an entire short story) might feel overwhelming, editing only requires you to work on one sentence at a time. It's so important. I know that editing isn't popularly thought of as exciting or fun, but the longer I do it, the more satisfying I find it. It frees up my first draft, too, because I know that even if I write something dreadful, I can fix it later.
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