Goodreads asked Kate Sparkes:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Kate Sparkes Write.

I know that sounds obvious, but for years, I didn't write much. True, I had depression and headaches and babies, and those things do tend to get in the way. But even before that, I tended to start and then abandon projects when my first drafts weren't perfect. I had been told I had talent, and when that didn't make everything easy, I gave up.

Ridiculous, I know. But no one had told me about the work.

I thought that being a good writer meant getting it right the first time, and criticism would mean I had failed. I never got beyond the first chapter of anything. I just re-wrote, looking for perfection, becoming more frustrated with each pass, until I gave up.

Don't do that. Write. Write a whole story, stick it in a drawer, and write something else. And then another thing, maybe a longer one. You don't have to show any of this to the world, and there's always the magic of revision later. It doesn't have to be great the first time, but it does need to be finished.

So do it.

Write.

(And read a lot-- in the genre you're working in to see what others are doing, and outside of it to stretch your mind and your imagination.)

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