What you put on the page today doesn't have to be good. It doesn't even have to make sense. It just has to be there...because you can't finish a book you never started. So try to show up for your story today, even in the smallest way. Can you write a single sentence? Come up with one idea?

I've been editing books professionally for a decade, and here are 5 things I wish every aspiring author knew from day one. They'll save you SO much time, guesswork, and heartache — especially if your goal is traditional publishing. And as an editor...I can say no. 3 gets overlooked way too much.

I recently got this email from a writer, and it broke my heart. Their fears are things I hear nearly every day: ☹️ AI is taking over ☹️ Publishers only want influencers ☹️ Literary fiction is dead ...so is it even worth writing a book? My response might surprise you 👀 youtu.be/GUC_Hdczmek

Just got the most exciting package of my life...my book is finally here! 🥳 Holding it in my hands for the first time is a feeling I genuinely cannot put into words. If you're feeling overwhelmed, confused, or discouraged by the querying process, we wrote this for you.

What's your biggest reading turnoff — something that'll make you INSTANTLY put a book down? I went down a Reddit rabbit hole digging for readers' biggest pet peeves...and these 6 things kept popping up again and again. Do you agree with this list? 👀

My book, THE MODERN GUIDE TO QUERYING LITERARY AGENTS, is coming to shelves in just two months! 🎉 I teamed up with the creator of @QueryTracker to create the first-ever querying guide built on data from 4 million actual query letters.

Here are some of my favorite multi-POV novels that nail the balance masterfully. (Shout-out to my incredibly talented client Lauren Ling Brown!) What are your favorites?

As the author, you obviously find your story interesting...but will your readers? What feels exciting inside your head doesn't always translate to the page. To avoid a DNF, check your manuscript for these 7 mistakes that bore readers fast.👇

From working with hundreds of authors over my career, I've discovered that most writers fall into one of four types (or a blend of them). The key to figuring out which writer type you are comes down to one question: What drives your writing, deep down?

One of the best pieces of writing advice is simple: Read. Read books in your genre. Read books outside your genre. Read new releases and classics. Read debut authors and seasoned bestsellers. And then, read some more. The more you read, the more craft and storytelling wisdom you'll absorb.

A dream come true to see my book with QueryTracker featured in Publishers Weekly! 🎉 "A practical and heartening guide for those navigating the book industry for the first time." If you're currently querying or planning to, we wrote this for you. 📘 Preorder it now: modernguidetoquerying.com/

Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover: After being released from prison, a woman returns to her hometown to connect with the daughter she's never met. That's number 2, a "leaving" plot.

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden: A young woman accepts a job as a live-in housemaid for a wealthy family, and quickly realizes something sinister is going on in the house. That's number 1, a "huddling" plot.

I've interviewed nearly 100 published authors and literary agents over the past four years. Here's what I always ask them: what's one thing you wish every aspiring author knew sooner? Here are 9 tough truths about the publishing process that most writers learn the hard way (so you don't have to).

A bad ending can turn a five-star novel into a flop. And that's all your readers will remember, no matter how brilliant the rest of the story was. That's why your ending HAS to land. Here are the 7 weakest endings I've seen in my 10+ years as a book editor — and exactly how to avoid them.

Here's a quick tip for any writer who struggles with perfectionism: Try naming your draft document something playful, like "Playground," "Draft Zero," or "Brain Dump." So simple, but it works.

The authors who sell the most understand this: writing is art, but publishing is business. If you want to do the same, it helps to think of your book like a product you're selling — because that's ultimately what it is. Here are 6 questions to help you write a book that actually sells:

5️⃣ ERNEST HEMINGWAY He knew that your first draft is not supposed to be polished, perfect, or even publishable. It's a starting point. "The first draft of anything is shit."

4️⃣ OCTAVIA E. BUTLER She won the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. She became the first science fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. Her work shaped the entire sci-fi genre. How? Persistence. "It's amazing what we can do if we simply refuse to give up."

3️⃣ F. SCOTT FITZGERALD He's one of the most celebrated authors in American literary history...and he got rejected 100+ times. Remind yourself of that the next time a rejection lands in your inbox. "I had 122 rejection slips before I sold a story."

2️⃣ MARGARET ATWOOD Stop waiting until you feel ready. Stop waiting until the words feel perfect. The most important thing you can do for your book today is to simply WRITE. Margaret Atwood, one of our literary icons, knows this well: "If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word."

1️⃣ STEPHEN KING If the man behind some of the most beloved novels thought he had written a "loser," you're allowed to have doubts too. He said this about Carrie: “I persisted because I was dry and had no better ideas…my considered opinion was that I had written the world’s all-time loser.”

Spoiler alert: your first draft probably won't be brilliant. And that's completely natural and normal. Think of your first draft as the framework of a house you're building. Revision is where you put in the flooring, paint the walls, and make it livable.