Daily Writing

As for the art of writing, Graham Greene said write 300 words a day. Flannery O’Connor, who was racing against time with Lupus, said 500 words a day. Members of a writer’s support group must be able and willing to be brutally honest with one another, and writers must be willing to “kill your darlings.” Any questions? Seriously, writing is rewriting and rewriting and rewriting (and having an excellent editor). You'll need an agent, but you’ll likely need an agent to get an agent. The publishing industry is on its head. C.S. Lewis once said, and I am paraphrasing here, “If you are still writing long after the dream of becoming a bestselling author has faded, and you continue the daily devotion of faithfully writing, then you are likely a writer.” I would add, If you only touch one reader with one of your stories, then you have not failed. We write to create order out of the chaos of our world. In the beginning it was the Word that put darkness to flight; so it must be with our words—both spoken and written.