Today I went to an art convention.

Now, it wasn’t something that grand. It was a Women’s Day Stall in Beacon House Gulberg. In fact today was just the sampling day where the teachers got an idea of the stuff we were going to sell. 

The reason I’m writing this blog today is that beacon house has a way giving me the best experiences. For the first time, I had direct exposure to my readers. In fact, I was presenting my book, so close as it is to my heart, to the public for it to judge and ridicule it directly for the first time.

The response was no where near that!

I had amazing conversations with a couple of people and they asked me the same thing. “Any tips for writing?” And so, I can say with a background of five years of writing to back me up, that the best advice I can give, is to keep writing. This is the advice I gave.

But Miss Ahmed (won’t say your name becasue of privacy) reached out to me specifically with this same question. So, I’ll try to give a broader explanation, to hope, that one day you write something of your own because of the next words I write:

Never stop writing. Writing is a skill, and as all skills go, the more you practice it the better you would become. There is no question to it.

Second advice I would give is to not compare your writing with others. You may compare your first draft with someone’s tenth. (Believe me, the book you saw today is the TENTH draft). Your voice, the experiences you’ve had in your life makes your writing unique. Use that. The more you write from your heart, the more special or unique your final novel would be.

And, don’t try to make your writing “perfect.” Even after ten drafts, I can sit down, edit it and find a bit of more things I would like to change. I can but I won’t. Because as an artist, one who creates something rather than follow a set curriculum, we must learn the point where we have to stop. Where if we add another point, we may ruin the essay, another stroke and we may ruin the whole painting.

These are the points I can think of at the moment. I hope I have answered your question Miss Ahmed. Ironically, as a writer, the best advice would be simply to sit down and write.

Hope that helps <3