What’s the worst advice you’ve ever gotten about your writing?
I think the worst advice I’ve heard has been “Why bother starting that now? Aren’t you a little old to try something new?”
I guess some people think you have to be young to be a writer, that you have to start when you’re in your twenties in order to really make it in the publishing world. Well, I know plenty of older writers who are quite happy with their lives as writers, even though they started late. It’s not your age, it’s your skill that defines whether or not you’ll sell books. Laura Ingalls Wilder was in her 60s when she wrote the “Little House” books, and look how popular those are!
Another good whopper is “You have to be a best-seller to matter.”
Sure, it’d be great to have a New York Times Best-seller and make a fortune, but you can certainly be happy with less. And any author will have their followers, so you don’t have to be a best-seller to be a success.
What’s your personal worst advice?