Rochelle L. Sharpe

I read this interview over at Alpha Reader with YA author Kelly Gardiner. Danielle asked Kelly What advice she had for budding young writers? This was Kelly’s answers:

Read. Write. Read. Write. And again. That’s all. Just keep being as good as you can be. On a more practical level, read passages out loud so you can hear if they ring true – and if something makes you hesitate or wonder, then it needs more thought. I learned that the hard way.

I’m currently writing in 25 minute bursts with a five minute break in between, just about chained to the desk so I can’t get distracted. It really works, especially for rough drafting. If I can’t think of the right word or I don’t know some historical fact, I just write “something” and go back to it later. Otherwise I can spend twenty minutes looking up the etymology of one word or the price of boat hire on the Thames in 1640 and not write any more for hours.

I really liked this advice, especially the second half, and wanted to share it with you. I’ve been reading a couple of things lately about writing productivity and all the advice suggests writing for a certain amount, take a short break, go again and so on, so Kelly’s onto a good thing.

She explains her writing method in more depth on her blog here.

Hope this advice was helpful to you. Happy writing 🙂