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I’m happy to share a guest post by Julie Kraut, author of the new novel Slept Away and co-author of Hot Mess: Summer in the City, for which I interviewed her for this blog. Julie is a great young writer and generous in her advice to aspiring scribes.  Here are her top tips:

There aren’t any reality shows about finding America’s next top writer.  And I’m not saying there should be.  I know that my writing process—sitting in front of a computer silently willing myself to focus instead of Google ex-boyfriends from college—wouldn’t make scintillating television programming.  But still, without a Simon or Tyra barking directives from the television, an aspiring author might feel left in a lurch when it comes to launching a career.  So, Lindsey asked me to write some tips on starting a writing career.  And while this is a tough request as there’s no one path to follow to writing success or specific way to guarantee getting published, there are a few writerly must-do’s when you’re getting started.

1. Write. Writing is a pretty huge part of being a writer.  That sentence might read stupid obvious, but it’s a fact that writing’s easy to talk about and hard to do.  Having a book idea or writing aspirations is one thing, but churning out the pages to back those ambitions up is a completely different thing.  So put your fingers to the keyboard, pen to the page, or quill to the parchment, and get writing.

2. Share. As hard as writing is, sharing your writing can be even harder.  But you can’t get published if your work never leaves your hard drive.  So, don’t be afraid of other people’s eyes on your words or editorial feedback.  In fact, you should seek it out. (more…)