In sum: Just DO It.
‘Make Sure You Read a Lot of Books’: 10 Writing Rules From Zadie Smith
- When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.
- When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.
- Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation’. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle’. All that matters is what you leave on the page.
Read more. [Image: AP] [via Brain Pickings]