“Write about what makes you different.”

–Sandra Cisneros

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Accept the flaws in your first draft because they contain the promise of the final one.

  “Teach yourself to work in uncertainty.”
– Bernard Malamud

Dialogue is the breath of every story. Use it to develop characters, advance the action, and pace your stories.

Finish the story you started, no matter how much you hate it. You can’t revise what isn’t written.

Avoid sucking black holes of negativity in your newsroom and your writing life. They will bring you down with them.

h/t Christine Martin

Don’t let rejection defeat you. Have a new submission ready to go as soon as a rejection appears in your inbox. If you’re accepted, rejoice and delete it.

Always take a different route to and from work. You’ll discover stories you didn’t know existed.

h/t Vidish Priyanka

To find the theme of your story, freewrite answers to these questions, writing as quickly as possible to silence the inner critic:

1. Why does it matter?
2. What’s the point?
3. Why is this story being told?
4. What does it say about life, about the world, about the times we live in?
5. What is my story really about?

Write the ending first. It gives you a destination and tells you what to foreshadow.