On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In a recent post on the Writer Unboxed blog, author D. L. White shared advice for new writers. Here’s an excerpt from that post:

Read. An author who doesn’t read is like a chef who never eats food. An artist who never goes to a gallery. Where do you discover new technique and new inspiration and let other people’s success motivate you? Where do you find community with readers and other authors? Read! In your genre for study (and of course enjoyment), outside of your genre for breadth of knowledge and to be able to say you read widely. I call all of that dessert. I like dessert.

Make sure you get some dessert!

I am also not a ‘write every day’ person, but determine at what cadence you’ll write and take that seriously. Plan it out, don’t make excuses, show up for yourself. Three-month break, one month of prep, thirty days of writing like a wild person, then edit? That’s how it’s gonna have to be. Learn what works for you, and lean into that, and don’t try to write like X author because you are not that author with their brain and personality and strengths. Learn yours and use them to your advantage.

Read the rest of the post here.