Rebecca’s advice to writers – giving it to us straight

Thank you, Rebecca T. Dickson, for reminding me (and other writers) that writing is not all shiny and the writing life is not easy, but if you love it, you will endure. Rebecca’s post is from 2013, but the points she makes still hit home. I really had to laugh at these 3 because I am guilty! Very guilty. (But working on it.)

• You will latch onto words or phrases and repeat them throughout your work

• The words and phrases you repeat will change over time.

• The habit of repeating shit will not.

This book could come in handy

If we don’t laugh at ourselves – and don’t recognize our shortcomings – we will never get better at what we do. As Rebecca notes, our first manuscripts will be rough. “Your later work, in its early drafts, will still suck… You may never feel good about what you write. Write anyway.”

And to end this post, a quote from Shannon Hale: “I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”

Have a great week!

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¹This old post of mine from 2012, in which I’d written about cleaning out those offenders, made me laugh when I re-read the line about the Crusade “novella.” Ha! And Mark Rogers has me writing a trilogy! (Okay – I have sort of admitted that I’m making plot notes about book 3.)


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