Advice For Writers (a found poem from Facebook chatter in 2013)

Piss off!
Or read to find out who you really are
and re-read forever.
Do more night-swimming.

Ignore all advice 



then test the waters with your writing
& read...          




Consider painting. Cut and paste.
 Be prepared to grind.




Embrace your tormented soul. Write to find out
and seriously drink.
           




Be yourself completely.
Never become someone else for the sake of others.





Don’t suffocate your message in posturing or vocabulary.
If you don't need it, leave it out.
There’s no fame or money in it.
Write drunk & edit sober as Ernest Hemingway said.      




BE DADA.                   




Read lots and write like nothing you've read.

Research all local asylums and reserve the biggest padded cell
ecause you really gotta be crazy to write.
All kidding aside, let your creativity feed what your heart
s trying to express. Stay sober most of the time and read.       
 




Never take newspapers as representations of life.
Use your own senses.
Even if impaired, they are your most reliable assets.
Run.
Run far away.

           




Be committed to developing the exact language to best express yourself.
Follow your intuition. Travel and engage.
A lot of writers have nothing unique to say.
Worry less about making friends than being respected.
Remember, the longevity of your work will not depend
n those young writers who come after you.
Learn to be gracious in all things.

Read and read and write and write and present and edit
nd present as someone once told me: "Be prepared to suffer."

           
Seriously. Don't emulate. Don't sermonize on desire.
Don't be precious. Have both craft and blood.
Don't listen to me or anyone one else. Have your own mind.
Punch people like me in the face. Hard.   
REVISE





. Buy as many books as you can find
and, remember, "first thought, best thought!”
Redemption through suffering: don't fall for it.

Begin writing and don't stop.
 Focus, then do it well.

 
Find a different job
. Avoid open mics.

Stop typing on your lame ass laptop in cafe's
or everyone to see you whinging over your work.
Stop smoking and running your fingers through your hair
like you're agonizing over a pronoun. Put the pen down.
Don't read your poems to people. yes, even this one.
Fuck your blog. Finally, shoot yourself in the face. If you do not succeed,
you may write a novel about Saskatchewan winters. No one gives a fuck
bout what you write.
 Watch more law and order
 



if you survive,
you may write a novel about Saskatchewan winters...

            


                       
Check your grammar. Eat more roughage.


Find another line of work. Not because writing isn't pleasurable
and rewarding, but we don't need more competition.
Be prepared for rejections...enough to wallpaper the bathroom
...if you’re a writer you won’t give up. 



Have lots and lots of ideas.

Don't quit your day job.

           
Think hard about why you want to be a writer.
The only motive worth following is you can't conceive of life without it.
When other motives creep in, remember the danger,
the heavy price of false hope.
 Hey mate, you wash your hair!
 
Write for your own use first, whether others have a use for your writing.



Don't leave your wallet in the dressing room. Oops...
that’s for beginning actors.
 



Focus. Everyday, get dressed.





Watch people and carry a notebook

 
Don't enroll in an MFA program. Don't take out student loans.
 





Fuck everybody. Do it your way.
               




If you're just beginning now, you aren’t a writer




Read everything you can get your hands on.
 
Learn the ABC's!                   

Write & write & keep writing, through trial & error
until you find your "voice." 



Read widely.
              

Drink bleach early in the day; drain cleaner in the evening.





If you ever go back in time, don't touch anything.

Just write, write, write...
And don't quit your day job.