If you want to write

Know that you have talent, are original and have something important to say

Know that it is good to work. Work with love and think of liking it when you do it. It is easy and interesting. It is a privilege. There is nothing hard about it but your anxious vanity and fear of failure.

Write freely, recklessly, in first drafts.

Tackle anything you want to - novels, plays, anything. Only remember Blake’s admonition: “Better to strangle an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires”

Don’t be afraid of writing bad stories. To discover what is wrong with a story write two new ones and then go back to it.

Don’t fret or be ashamed of what you have written in the past. It is so conceited and timid to be ashamed of one’s mistakes. Of course they are mistakes. Go on to the next.

Try to discover your true, honest, untheoretical self

Remember how wonderful you are, what a miracle!

If you are never satisfied with what you write, that is a good sign. It means your vision can see so far that is hard to come up to it.

When discourages, remember what Van Gogh said: “If you hear a voice within you saying: You are no painter, than paint by all means, lad, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working.”

Don’t be afraid of yourself when you write. Don’t check-rein yourself. If you are afraid of being sentimental, say, then be as sentimental as you can or feel like being! Then you will probably pass through to the other side and slough off sentimentality because you understand it at last and really don’t care about it.

Don’t always be appraising yourself, wondering if you are better or worse than others. “I will not Reason and Compare”, said Blake; “my business is to Create.” Besides, since you are like no other being ever created since the beginning of Time, you are incomparable.

The best way to know the Truth or Beauty is to try to express it. And what is the purpose of existence Here or Yonder but to discover truth and beauty and express it, i.e., share it with others?