there is the dog who is unfalteringly loyal, who will forgive endlessly and to its own demise; who will take the pain over and over again (surely this is its own fault anyway). the dog who accepts the harshest touches, since those are better than never being touched at all; who will always come back, and will always be waiting for you to come back. just in case.

Congrats on getting into writing and thanks so much for the kind words! I think these are my best tips for writing, or the ones I use the most:

READ! If I ever get writers block, I know it's because I haven't been reading enough. I kind of see the words as a tank I have to fill up, but in a more technical sense, the only way to really learn the ins and outs of writing is to read! Nothing else will teach cadence, pacing, and structure like reading will. It can't be taught; only read.

Don't get too wrapped up in the first draft. When I write, sometimes it'll come in fully formed sentences, but more often than not I end up putting down shortened sentences without any sort of punctuation or proper paragraphing. Dialogue, internal thoughts, scene descriptors, phrases I want to carry through to the final draft. The first iteration of what I write will never look like the final version, even if I spend that extra time adding punctuation and stuff. It's a waste of time to me, so I skip it to start. Also, decide ahead of time what tense and what POV you're going to be in, but don't get married to it; these things are changeable.

Writing is crafting, and like any craft, you need your tools. Figure out what works best for you. Don't listen to what works best for someone else. I do my best writing on my phone. I use google docs, because it's the only thing that I can keep consistent between devices. Sometimes I use Scrivener. Sometimes I use the website Oh Write with a friend. We use a writing sprint bot in our server. When I'm in a document, I have shorthand I've gotten used to: a + means come back and add something, a bulleted paragraph means this is super rough and can be moved around, and I'll use all caps notes like MOVE THIS ABOVE PREVIOUS SCENE, etc. There is no wrong way to do these things, you only have to learn what is intuitively helpful for you.

Editing covers all sins! My stories rarely look anything like their first or even second draft, structurally. My first edit is usually to get everything into proper form. I make sure it visually looks okay. Paragraphs need to be different lengths to keep the reader's eye interested. Don't start paragraphs and sentences the same way consecutively; keep your sentence structures mixed up. These things are intuitive once you've written enough. My final edit will be for typos, for word choice, for making sure the characters sound like themselves. In that edit, I'm a reader nitpicking my own writing. I'm looking for flow and setting. I'm making sure the reader can get into the story easily.

IT WILL NEVER BE PERFECT. Edit as much or as little as you want to satisfy yourself! But at some point, if you want to show it to someone or post it, you have to accept that it will be what it is. And that's totally fine! You're under no obligation to edit as I've described the process above. This is about your enjoyment first and foremost, unless it's going for publishing, in which case god be with ye, etc.

PERSONAL TIPS: If you're blocked, change the font. If the story isn't flowing, look away from the screen and write from your head and not your eyes. Music can help, but it can also hamper. Try silence sometimes. Stop and read something if you need to get back into it. Use font colors to denote where you've edited, what needs more editing, or whatever you want. Have an easy way to note things down when you're out and about, if you get to imagining. I use my phone or a notebook. Don't flinch away from writing with pen and paper; when I was really blocked on my thesis, I sat in the evenings and wrote it by hand on binder paper and it saved my life. IDK who needs to hear this, but no, alcohol and drugs do not make you better at writing. Keep a journal. Talk to yourself about your story. It helps. I try to keep my writing untied from a certain setting or set of conditions: I think so much of what people do as writing is actually not writing. The great gift of writing, to me, is that all you need to do to write is to write! If you're putting words down, you're writing. Unfortunately, the converse then is true. If you're not doing that, you aren't writing. No amount of reading about writing or thinking about writing or talking about writing will ever be writing. Luckily, it gets easier the more you do it!