My Current Best Writing Advice

It's good life advice, too

With the launch of my next book just a few days away, I’ve been thinking a lot about advice for writers. I get this question often, and I never know the best way to answer. The most obvious advice I have is this: read a lot.

Teenage me, just casually reading Catcher in the Rye as I’m swallowed whole by Laura Ashley prints.

There are practical tips I can share — writing sprints, critique partners, my favorite tools (Scrivener, FreeWrite, TimeTimer, Brick, Cave Day — I’ll do a more detailed post about these soon). And while I have lots of thoughts about the writing “process,” especially as a neurodivergent person, and a parent, what I’ve been coming back to lately is this:

When in doubt, take a break. Sometimes, not writing is the best way to write.

One of my secret past lives is that I am a certified yoga instructor (who hasn’t taught in over a decade). I’ll never forget the first time I heard a teacher say in a yoga class that we should all rest as much as we need. They said something along the lines of, “sometimes not doing yoga IS your yoga practice.” This, frankly, terrified me. Wasn’t the whole point to try to contort myself into the hardest poses and sweat the most of anyone else in the class? What did it say about me if I, simply, took a break? Stopped? Rested? Didn’t come to class, even?

It turns out, it felt pretty great. And I eventually got the larger point the teacher was trying to make — that the practice isn’t only in the “doing.”

Yes, sitting down and physically writing is part of the process. But lately, I’ve been taking time away from plopping in front of my computer and trying to crank out some words. What’s been magical, is that I’ve noticed I’m still brainstorming, plotting, and coming up with ideas as I go about my everyday life. Not writing, it turns out, might sometimes be the key to writing.

Now I of course still struggle with the pressure I put on myself to constantly be “working” on something, especially right now, when I am not, technically, “working” on anything. Do I have anxiety about this? Absolutely!

My dog with a scrunchie on her head, modeling how I look whilst “anxious.”

But I also know that stepping away from the computer is a huge part of the larger process of creativity. And experiencing life — the mundanity, the hard, grueling moments, the joy — is a necessary, vital part of not just writing, but being a human.

Creative ideas come from living, not just doing. There’s a reason The Artist’s Way encourages going on walks and taking yourself out on “artist’s dates.”

So whether you’re a writer or not, remember that it’s okay to take a break. Stepping away is often the key to moving forward, or discovering an entirely new direction to head in. Bon voyage.

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There’s only a few more days until All’s Fair in Love and Pickleball comes out! If you’d like to help boost the book, you can:

• Purchase a copy from your favorite indie bookstore (I’ll send you a signed book plate!)

• Request it at your local library

• Grab the audiobook (I love Libro.fm!)

• Share the book with friends and strangers, IRL or on social media

• Write a review of it on Goodreads and Amazon

• Order a signed and personalized copy from The Ripped Bodice (last call!)

• Join me in person at my signing event in LA on June 3rd

• See me in July in Boston and Portland

• Follow me on TikTok, where I seem to me my most authentic, awkward self?

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I would genuinely love to hear your best writing/life advice, so please drop a comment so we can compile a list. Thank you, as always, for coming along on this newsletter and book journey with me!

Love,

Kate