One piece of advice I often give to new writers is to read books and articles about writing regularly. Of course, it would be easy to spend so much time studying such writing advice that one didn’t actually have time to write, but it is important to devote some time on a regular basis to hearing what works for other writers. No one can offer a formula that will exactly work for you, but at the same time, hearing what works for others helps you to evolve your own craft.

Anyway, as I said, this is advice I often give, but it’s not advice I always follow myself. I’m time-starved and sometimes feel resentful at the prospect of giving up work time to learn. But I have resolved this year to spend a little more time reading what others have to say, and today have been reading the opening ‘pages’ of Advice on Novel Writing by Crawford Kilian, which I came across online. So far I’ve only read the section on Efficient Work Habits, but as I read I found myself nodding my head at much of it – stuff I already knew but which I needed to be reminded about. His suggestion about writing letters to yourself as you write – much as an editor might write to you during the editing process – was a new one, but interesting.

Anyway, if you’re stuck for a little inspiration yourself, or just needing some good writing advice, this site may be worth browsing. As I come across others, I’ll post them here.