When you're starting out, you don't know enough to recognizewhich advice matters. You hear it. You nod thoughtfully. Then, if you’re like me, you ignore it completely. Years later, you rediscover it and realize somebody was trying to save you an enormous amount of trouble. Here are six pieces of writing advice I wish I hadn't ignored.

I've published two novels, with a third on the way. I've also spent enough time around writers to notice that most successful authors' careers are built from activities too dull to survive contact with a YouTube thumbnail.

In this episode of Words on Writing, James Dunlop, author of the Andrew MacKay thrillers, discusses the things that make author careers, which are often not talked about.

Most advice about endings focuses on resolution. Did the hero succeed? Was the mystery solved? Did the plot deliver on its promises? Those things matter, but they're rarely what readers remember. More often, readers finish a novel with avague sense of satisfaction or disappointment they struggle to articulate. The reason, I suspect, is that every story is really solving two different problems.

Everyone wants artistic success to involve rare creative ecstasy and dramatic bursts of genius. Writing two books taught me that it comes down to discipline. You eventually end up holding a finished book, which feels almost surprising given how consistently the process resembled low-levelclerical work performed under mild psychological strain.

Advanced description problems are harder to diagnose than beginner ones. The prose sounds good, which makes writers protective of it. Unfortunately, readers don’t award bonus points for decorative suffering. Here's how you can create details that imply entire worlds, rather than extremely confident wallpaper.

In self-publishing, reviews matter. They influence readers, visibility, and your mood more than is sensible. One thoughtful review can buoy your week. One odd complaint can have you pacing around with a cup of hot coffee and a keyboard under threat of serious bodily harm. Here's how to survive the opinion market.

What writing advertising campaigns taught me about writing faster without writing worse.

Most self-publishing advice is practical. All of it's useful. Some of it even works. But self-publishing isn’t just a logistical exercise. It’s an emotional one. Here's some advice for dealing with that.

These are the mistakes that feel like progress because they look like writing. They resemble depth, intelligence,emotional weight. Unfortunately, they’re the narrative equivalent of being an Amazon page of shiny fire extinguishers distracting you from the house actually burning down around you. Here's how to deal with them.

Unless your write a runaway bestseller (the equivalent to winning the lottery but with considerably worse odds) one book is just a business card. A career is a stack of them. You don’t have to write the single greatest novel in the history of literature. But to build a career, you do have to keep writing.