Month: February 2019

An Amazing List of Writing and Publishing Tips

by J.J. Probasco

“I may not learn much or learn fast, but I learn purty good. And one of the things I learned good is that it’s a whole lot easier learnin’ from somebody else’s advice than sittin’ and starin’ at the wall and figurin’ it all out for yourself.”

— J.J. Probasco

There.  If J.J. says it, it must be true!

So here’s the thing: no matter what you do, the best way to go about it is find out what the experts do, and do that.  What other writers, publishers, and agents think and how they do what they do ends up being a pretty reasonable guide for going about the business of being a writer.  And it just so happens that a bunch of those folks got together at the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference and spouted several tons worth of wisdom.  Then the Writer’s Digest folks sat down and sorted through it and came up with a whole handful to put in a list so the rest of us could sit back and learn from it at our leisure.

Being easily distracted by every thought-squirrel that skitters past, it took me a while to stumble across this marvelous list, but better late than never.  So if anyone stumbles across my post before theirs, I’m fulfilling my destiny by pointing you toward the actual wisdom.  It comes handily at the link below, and here’s just a tiny tidbit to hold you until you get there…

“Everyone’s first pages are awful. Just hold your nose and write. Today’s sh*t is tomorrow’s compost.”

— Hallie Ephron

There.  Wasn’t that deep?  Now go look at the rest!

100 Writing & Publishing Tips from the 2018 Writer’s Digest Annual Conference By: Jess Zafarris | August 17, 2018

“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING.” AND OTHER WRITING ADVICE FROM TONI MORRISON

by J.J. Probasco

Found a really good collection of advice from Toni Morrison, by Emily Temple at Literary Hub.  Worth a read for any writer.

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR TRUE LOVE AND YOUR MAMA AND YOUR PAPA AND YOUR FRIENDS.

February 15, 2019  By Emily Temple

Write what you want to read.

I wrote the first book because I wanted to read it. I thought that kind of book, with that subject—those most vulnerable, most undescribed, not taken seriously little black girls—had never existed seriously in literature. No one had ever written about them except as props. Since I couldn’t find a book that did that, I thought, “Well, I’ll write it and then I’ll read it.” It was really the reading impulse that got me into the writing thing.

–from a 2014 interview with NEA Arts Magazine

 

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