# Read

Unless you’re writing only for you, you need to keep the audience in mind. Especially if that audience is the gatekeeper to all your hopes and dreams.

The working-class is what I know, and they’re almost always at the heart of the stories I tell. As for why we’re not hearing enough about them—I don’t know. Superheroes are overqualified for the jobs out here.

Overworking doesn’t make you a better or more dedicated writer.

"I’ve become, like many of my peers, frustrated with the machinations of getting a film made in Hollywood ... I’m only interested in work that speaks to me on a very personal and intimate level.’’

I hope this story offers readers some kind of kindling—for warmth, or to stir some hidden fire. Mostly, I hope this story helps someone reclaim their own skin—whatever that means to them.

Mistake 3: Accidentally direct-messaging an agent on Twitter who I thought was my IRL childhood friend.

Buy more hats. You'll need them. You’re an artist, a writer, a creator, a professional, and a business person.

When Spike Scarberry threw down the gauntlet, insisting structure was more important than voice, Karin Partin Wells raised her hand to battle in a public debate.

Writing might be kind of a solitary endeavor, but publishing is very collaborative—it won't be just you anymore.

The Business Lady pressed her on what her favorite shows and toys were and proceeded to tell her the prospects of the corporations behind them.

Both from my pent up decade of jealousy and my own recent increase in writer’s group activity, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about all the variables in creating your ideal creative collective.

Survival is tough in this town. Like following a hundred pieces of string that just fall to dust in your hands.

I really relish just wallowing in the language, the descriptions, making sure everything is as tight and on-point as it can possibly be.

This is so important to writing good dialogue that it deserves to be on a card on your bulletin board … or at least in caps on its own line.

Stand in front of that mirror and ask, “Self, do you want to have a writing career? Are you willing to dare to be vulnerable? To speak positively about yourself and your work?"