Goodreads asked Shane Harrison:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Shane Harrison Without being too terse, I would say: write. Then (deep breath) edit. And, as it says of the bottle of pills: repeat as necessary. The important thing is to enjoy the writing and to do it in your own way. Reading is something I am enjoying immensely at the moment, more so than writing; but these things come in cycles. Welcome both, but don't confuse them. When you read your own work you are editing. When you read another's work, you may be critical, or relaxing, or searching for inspiration. But, when you sit down to write, it's just yourself and your quill. I've just been thinking that my first 'quill' was a portable typewriter that I bought in Liverpool. I took the early morning ferry from Dublin and arrived on the Mersey waterfront at dawn. This is how writing begins ...

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