1. Don’t develop a bad habit that helps you write. I read this somewhere along the line…like don’t drink and write, don’t eat and write, don’t do anything and write - otherwise, three weeks and 40,000 words later, you’ll find out you can’t write without said item. *slurp* So true.

2. Make Every Word Count. I read this and thought, yeah, whatever. I mean, some words are just filler words - the, and, an, he, she, it - and that was about the point where I had this tiny story and 80,000 words. Then you go through this process of paring down your words itself, and that left me with 60,000 words. Then I learned to make my story bigger, again, with less words. That left me with 40,000 words. My story was twice as big with half as many words. Think I had much filler? Every word has to count, it really does. And if you have “filler,” you aren’t done editing.

3. Save For A Therapist. At Georgetown, part of my employee benefits were free counseling anytime. My co-worker made me go once after my miscarriage. I didn’t have much to talk about (as a totally unwilling client), but there have been so many times during writing Tantrum that I’ve wanted to go back. I have an entire other person walking around with me at all times. She’s seventeen and she curses and makes long ass sentences about who knows what… She takes over my head pretty much effortlessly at this point. I have enough problems with my own soul, and now I have another one in there. (more…)