Solicited advice
Apply and reapply every two hours / Issue 1,167
Oh, hi friends!
What is the best advice you ever received?
Maybe it was from a friend, mentor, teacher, family member.
Think about it for a second.
(Why do we always forget the things we want to most remember?)
Now think about a potential speed bump during your day.
How can you apply that advice — that essential information — to your life right now?
What is the most valuable advice you received as a young writer?
Lorrie Moore told me to relax. That is always excellent advice for a young writer. Don't rush your stories or your career, and don't try to publish things that are unripe. You can only hurt yourself. Also, remember that nothing is ever wasted. If you have a story that is only at ninety percent now, someday in the future something will click, and you will write it much better, in a white heat, and when it finally goes into the world it will make you proud.
Very comforting interview with author Lauren Groff (I saw this on someone’s Substack — if it was yours, please let me know, and thank you!)
I love the zebras! I also love the advice to relax! (Even though I’m not a young writer.)
"Why do we always forget the things we want to most remember?" I ask myself this when I conveniently forget my wins while stewing in my losses. The losses always seem to carry more weight and last longer, but I know that's just my perception. I give them weight. I give them my attention. The shift to giving wins more weight and more attention is one I'm always trying to make.