Finish the first draft. If I meet a new writer and they make excuses, seem reluctant, or have just plain never finished a story, then I know they aren't worth my time.

the first draft is always shit... finish it... don't worry about the length knowing you'll cut, rewrite, polish and rewrite it again. But if you don't finish you'll never know what you have. You're a word sculptor chiseling away your stone until you find your story.

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"Better is the enemy of done."

Awesome. Where did that come from? This is one of the principles of FINISHING -- Dare to suck.

It's usually attributed to Voltaire. I found this link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good

Ass in chair. Fingers on keyboard. Write shit. Repeat.

I was actually thinking about this the other day. After years of writing I think a few things stand out... First, stay as far away from adverbs as possible. The more I write, the more I read, the more I cringe when I come across adverbs. It's really the antithesis of "show, don't tell" in writing terms. Read. Read, read, read. The more you read, the better you will write. This, I've come to believe, is a fact. Stephen King says he reads over 70 books a year and it shows in his writing. How many books per year are you reading? Find your voice. Don't worry too much about your vocabulary, grammar, etc. You need to be versed in those to be successful (obviously), but what talent evaluators want most is potential and a unique point of view. Ask yourself what it is about you that makes you unique. How do you see the world and how does that vary from the masses? Often times what separates the best writers from the pack isn't a sound command of punctuation or an extensive vocabulary, but a way of describing the world that makes the reader think, "Wow, I've never thought of it that way before." Just my two cents, but I think about this type of stuff often so I hope it helps!

Don't edit during first draft. Move forward until you write "the end". Yes, it will suck, it will need fixing, but it's better to get the goddamn thing done & edit as a whole for the sake of overall quality. Otherwise it'll be patchwork & uneven. ...if you even get the goddamn first draft done.

"No attachment to outcome." Easier said than done! But ... if I at least try to banish thoughts/worries about if it's any good, if it'll help me land a manager, if it'll ever "become" something, then I'm more free to write with abandon, which is how better writing emerges. Or so I think anyway.

Finally realised how to comment on GITS. Strangely the hardest part of writing for me isn't using the software, it's Act Two. Also, letting myself explore and be free thinking, whether its rubbish (it is) or not (really, it is). Turn over enough earth, you mind just find a gem on the surface.

My all time favourite writing "tip" - it's more of an adage - comes from Kelly Oxford. "If you loved what you're writing and now you hate what you're writing, you're halfway through." I keep this in mind all the time as a reminder that inevitably at some point I will want to throw it all away. This is my signal that I'm doing something right.

Insightful post. I've heard executives want to know what kind of background you had--i.e. maybe you were a former special forces, etc. Though, sometimes what shaped you or how you see the world might not come from any particular background. The writer of Prisoners had a pretty normal background... and that movie was terrific.

I know the common wisdom is to have that first draft out no matter what it looks like, but that hasn't worked for me. It seems like at least for me it's better to nail the key building blocks in that first draft so you have something to work with. A few pro writers in some interviews have mentioned that it's worked better for me.