MY ONE Piece of Advice for New Writers

And like Curly from the movie, City Slickers, I hold up the one finger (no, not the bad finger), the one thing that matters most for a writer (in my POV as a writer moving up at the bottom).

As a horror writer it's my job to know people. Granted I don't know everything, and I can't read minds despite failed attempts. But I know me, I know my life, and I know how those around me are effected/affected. I know things that I can't express, feelings that none can identify with. Things that make me a one-of-a-kind, which to be honest, I hate. I know what it is like to lose a family member to murder, and I know it is like to watch someone go insane. I know what it's like to watch someone you love slowly fall apart from health problems that can't be cured.

I know what it's like to venture into a dark mindset, the kind that makes the humanity I was brought up with cringe. And I know what it is like to love, the kind of love that transforms me to cater to the needs of that special person.

I'm not a good man, but I do care, and this is the missing ingredient in the world today. People either grow to be apathetic, or they're just born that way. And this happens to people of all walks of life.

If there is one thing I say a writer should do, it is to never stop caring. Never stop loving. Humanity can be a good or bad thing depending on how we take it. As human beings we are broken creatures, we can be the very worst the world has to offer. But, some of us flourish, shine above the rest, and not because they are super stars, but because they special. Most people in fact have this potential; they have it in them to shine.

As a writer it is hard for me to not look at the world from the POV of a seasoned homicide detective. But it is also hard to completely give up. I can't be a lot of things I want to be, or do a lot of the things I want to do, however, being there for others who truly appreciate it, feeling the passion of love, it has kept me from losing my mind altogether.

My biggest piece of advice to writers starting out is that no matter what you write, what mind-frame you get into, never stop caring. Don't let your heart turn to stone. Your proverbal balls can be stone (if you're tough like that), but always keep your heart soft, warm, and save the darkness for the fiction.

We are entertainers, and we record the feelings and problems of our lives. Well, most of us. Our fiction can have small amounts of us buried deep for the reader's enjoyment, and who knows, we might even touch someone with our words.

Our past, present, and possible future is fodder for our works. Don't let this kind of homework go wasted.

Last note, I lift my proverbal drink in toast, to all the writers who care endlessly, who have donated their entire checks for charity, who suffer needlessly, and to those madly in love for the first time, and those in love after years of marriage… cheers and be well my friends!