Today I was reminded of two important things by posts I saw on Facebook and Twitter.
Firstly: there are no shortcuts. This came from an article about what editors want to see that Kirsty Logan shared. It reminded me that I have a long list of magazines I need to read because I think I want to submit stories to them. But more importantly, it reminded me that there’s no quick way of finding markets, or writing stories.
Secondly: stop agonizing and get on with it. Chris Scott, who took my lovely profile photo, shared a video with advice to artists. Watching it reminded me to stop worrying about whether my stories are original, or whether my novel’s the best thing since The Cloud Atlas*, and just get on with the task of writing.
(If you’ve got AdBlocker or a similar service, the video probably won’t show. Watch the video on YouTube instead.)
* Note to self: I’m not trying to write the best book in the history books, I’m just trying to write my first novel. It’ll be flawed and that’s OK.