If you're a writer, you've probably experienced this frustrating thing: all kinds of people feel free to give you advice. Usually, it's not because they're experts, or bestselling authors, or even avid readers. It's because their one friend ffrom high school is a successful author, and maybe you should talk to them to get help. Or because they're no expert, but they've heard you should write every day to succeed. Do you write every day? No? Yikes. (Neither does your host, writing coach Karena Akhavein, Ph.D.) Or because they care about you, and it's really hard, maybe impossible, to succeed as a writer. Or because you asked them their opinion on the rough draft of your book, and they don't read much, but they really don't like that genre so maybe you should rewrite it to sound more like Stephen King?

Writing advice is everywhere. And more often than not, though advice comes from a good place and has some golden nuggets troughout, much writing advice can actually be harmful to writers in the long run and hold them back from their writing goals and their dream of being a successful published author.

Tune into this uplifting episode of the How to be an Author podcast to dissect which wriitng advice is helpful, which can be harmful, and which ideas and concepts can actually move the needle in your writing career.