I finished On Writing last week and WOW!!! Fun read from the biographical portion dealing with tthe formation of a writer, to the writing tools and advice, to the story of the accident that nearly ended his life. I found it to be an absolute page turner and read it every day until I was finished. And that is something I rarely, if ever, do with a book.

The best pieces of advice I found were (in no particular order) -

• “The first draft is with the door closed, the second is with the door open” – I tend to talk my stories to death before I even sit down to a blank screen, and this has the effect of releasing the story before it is ready into a non-permanent medium (ie, memory).
• “2nd draft = 1st draft – 10%” – This is a killer formula for fighting the urge to add to a second draft rather than the often quoted advice to ‘kill your darlings’. I have that same issue that Stephen King claims to have, and tha lot of writers seem to have, in that I want to add more material rather than honing the material down to something tighter.
• “Read a lot, write a lot” – I liked the recognition that reading makes one a better writer, and I also appreciated the reminder that the only way to get better is practice.
• “There is no magic bullet” – Amen. Like most Americans I am trapped in the mentality of the quick fix, assured method, and perfect plan. In writing there isn’t one. Just get the crap down on paper first, then fix it on re-write.