Letter to a Young Writer

The most important thing is very simple: Develop a daily practice. Art is not a project or a business or even a career. It is a life. I once had a teacher who advised: If you can imagine any other possible thing to do, perhaps you should pursue that.

Because this is the way for those who could abide no other way.

There is no formula; there are people who work best at dawn, those who work best at night.

Get up every morning and work. You are what you do every day.

Realize: This is a very long game.

Begin to figure out how you are going to conduct your continuing education.

Richard Ford once said, Marry someone who thinks that you being a writer is a good idea. Don’t think about building a career; think about making something every day.

Begin your education not only in writing, but also in reading the work that has come before you. Learn how to read deeply and productively.

Develop your discernment. But never become so refined in your judgment that it stops you from generating new work.

Try to cultivate community with other people. This is going to be your life. Find ways to enjoy it. Start a reading group. Found a literary magazine. Found a reading series.

Don’t let periods of depression with the character of “I’m not good enough” envelope you and cost days of life. At the end of such an episode, you find yourself back at the beginning. LIVE MORE WRITE MORE.

Avoid ranking and comparison. I may prefer to be Beckett or Kafka, but at best I could only ever be a good imitation. The best you can be is the best you can be, and that’s what’s to be striven for and discovered. And that really, fundamentally, has nothing to do with what anyone else is doing.