Goodreads asked Michael B. Neff:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Michael B. Neff Learn from the onset how to become a good writer by seeking the right sources so you won't spend years or even decades struggling to achieve mediocrity. Choose your universe (academic, commercial, or independent), your genre niche (SFF, mystery, thriller, historical, etc.), and immerse yourself in those environments. If commercial genre or upmarket, join Publisher's Marketplace to learn all you can about what is selling, who is selling and who is buying. Get your work in front of professionals. Be very skeptical of feedback from amateur writer groups working sans any real criteria or experience. And most of all, shelve the narcissism and accept you know nothing and must become an apprentice to your craft, and that this will take years. An author friend of mine was told at a cocktail party by a neurosurgeon that he would take the summer off and write a novel, whereupon the author responded, "Good idea. I'll take the summer off and work on a few brains."

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