So I guess my time here is done. I hope my posts were interesting or entertaining. You guys didn’t comment much at the end, so I’m hoping the stunned silence was a good thing. Before I go, I wanted to make my last post one that I hope you’ll take to heart.

As you journey on your way through being an aspiring author, you’re going to read a lot of books and hear a lot of authors comment on how to write, how to do this or that, craft, industry, the works. This is fantastic! Take advantage of every opportunity to learn more (especially craft, craft is key). But I hope as you do so, you’ll keep one thing in mind:

There is no ‘right’ way to write.

You’re going to hear things like ‘always do X’ or ‘never do Y’. Ignore the always and the never. The fact is, when it comes to writing, the only way that is ‘right’ is the way that works for you. If that means you get up at 2:30am and write for two hours, fantastic! If that means you grab ten minute intervals throughout the day to write a few paragraphs, wonderful.

Do you write ten pages a day? Terrific! One page a day? That works, too. Only write on weekends and do marathon sessions? Sounds good.

And then there is the editing. Maybe you’re like me and put your head down and write, knowing you can fix it all later. Or perhaps you’re someone who agonizes and rewrites every page as you go. Or maybe you write five pages, then come in the next day and re-read and edit those pages before you write five more. You know what, every single one of those ways is absolutely correct, as long as it keeps you writing and moving forward on your story.

Whether you write by the seat of your pants without any kind of plot laid out or you plot meticulously in some weird multi-angle grid, you are right to do it if it works for you. In fact, I started as a pantser and became a heavy plotter, so your style might even change over the years.

I know people how have made themselves sick, gotten to the point of wanting to quit entirely because they’ve forced themselves into some little box that someone else laid out for them. Don’t do that to yourself. Hear what you are taught. File it away. Try it out, test it if it sounds interesting to you. But if it doesn’t work, stop doing it. If it makes you dread writing, change it. And if only parts of what you’re told work, then keep those parts and toss the rest out.

You have to protect the little artist within yourself. The one who has a story to tell and doesn’t give a crap about rules and regulations. Yes, you’ll mold her so that your craft improves and you meet the standards of the publishers. But you can’t stifle her and the way she works entirely or she will pack up her things and move away to Switzerland.

You are the writer that you are. You may love a hundred wonderful authors, but you will never be them. And they will never be you. Celebrate your uniqueness as a storyteller. Hold on to the patterns that keep you writing. Destroy the things that make your eyes cross when you try them.

And never, ever let anyone tell you that the way you choose to tell your story is wrong. Because it isn’t possible.

I’ve enjoyed being here this week! See many of you on the Avon Board!