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Five Myths About Writing We Can Live Without
Conventional wisdom will not make you a brilliant writer
If I had a nickel for every scrap of writing advice that’s been published or posted, I’d probably be a trillionaire and living on my own luxury island.
It’s easy to lose your way amid the plethora of online courses, workshops, lectures, books, newsletters, blogs, writing-aid software, agent advice, and so on.
Indeed, I’ve encountered many writers (especially fiction writers) who suffer from writer’s block or some form of analysis paralysis that we can arguably trace back to their habit of over-indulging in advice for writers.
There’s an old saying: “Enough is as good as a feast.” Put another way: “Moderation in all things.”
Consuming vast amounts of training and advice may make you a savvy consumer, but this material isn’t guaranteed to make you a better writer, or even a more diligent one.
Of course, there are no guarantees in life about anything (except, perhaps, death and taxes). The least we can do is jettison some of this extra baggage and begin concentrating on our own raw writing practices, without quite so many voices clamoring to offer wise counsel.
