Make time this Saturday for your writing.  Tell yourself you’re going to write for either fifteen minutes, half an hour, or an entire hour.  Then stick to your plan.  You’ll be surprised how much you can get on the page if you discipline yourself.

If you need a prompt to get you going, use these three words: ATLANTIC   ROSE    FORK

When someone makes an editorial suggestion to you, try and avoid both of your natural responses ;-).  Firstly, you’ll feel like your editor is wrong and that they don’t understand your work at all.  Then you’ll feel like your work is the worst thing that’s ever been written.  Ever.  Neither of these are helpful ways to react as a writer, although both are totally normal as a human being.  Instead, try to stay cool and calm, thinking about the words of the feedback and playing them over a few times in your mind.  What could the comment mean?  What is the editor/friend/writing group member asking?  Why have they had the response they’ve had?

Then re-read your own work and see how it seems to you.  You are the author and you know your work better than anyone.  That doesn’t mean your impulse to protect it, or destroy it, is the right impulse.  But it does mean that if you’ve considered the feedback carefully, you might find a way to improve your piece further.

And remember, the first draft is NEVER the final draft, and nor should it be.  Editing is a BIG part of the job.

Gotham Writer’s Workshop – who teach great courses for writers – have emailed in their newsletter three short answers from Barbara Kingsolver to common writing questions.
Q. What is your best method for overcoming writers block?
A. Raise children. You’ll be so hungry for writing time, given the constraints, that you’ll leap onto your keyboard like a racehorse out of the gate, every time.

Q. What is your favorite or most helpful writing prompt?
A: What am I really trying to say here?

Q. What is the most valuable advice you received as a young writer?
A: “Your first sentence should make a promise that the rest of the story will keep.” – Francine Prose

Go to www.kingsolver.com for more from this wonderful writer.