Want to know how to make your writing life as rewarding as possible? Here’s the essential advice that every writer needs as they set out on their writing journey.

Write… and then write some more

If you write, you’re a writer. So write. The more you exercise your writing muscles, the easier it will feel and the better you will do it. Write about anything that takes your fancy.

Write about it at length. Write for the pleasure of writing. But above all, keep writing.

Cross it all out and start again

The more able you are to look at your work and see that it’s not as good as you want it to be, the better a writer you will be in the long term. Put your heart and soul into your work and then be prepared to delete every single word of it and start again. And again. And again. Until you get it right. In the short term, it will hurt like crazy. In the long term, it will give you an editor’s eye, and that will make you a better writer.

Read and read and read and read… And then read some more