You're more likely to finish a book you enjoy, than one that feels like literary drudgery.

Listening to others does not mean you should sound like them; find your own voice by telling stories as authentically as possible.

If you tell stories you love, you will never tell them with indifference - take it to the bank.

I find that it takes a lot of years of living, and many more of reckoning, to come up with one worthwhile paragraph. And when a deadline looms, prayer doesn't hurt, either.

The hardest part is making the time to write. Not finding the time to write, mind you. Making.

Read, read, read. Read good books. You will strengthen your understanding of story. Your vocabulary will be the richer for it.