Spring Fire

The youngest? You're the youngest of the three? Is there a problem?

And then one day you start see the flaws before you make them, you ANTICIPATE flaws that could come up ten or twenty or fifty pages from now, like fucking up your tension, or a character needing to be more interesting and dynamic, or a plotline feeling shaky and disconnected... And you already know what you need to do to fix them. You've got the tools in your toolbox, and you've practiced with them to know what's going to work and what you need to do instead. You've learned enough to smell the storm on the wind before there's a cloud in the sky, and so you can adjust your course to avoid them.

Meme redraw of... the Man

I am so tired of "don't tell people that their first draft will be bad, it's discouraging!" or "don't tell people their first book will be bad, you'll make them not want to write it!!"

Not every single piece of writing advice needs to fluff you up. You should not need surround-sound validation to keep writing.

You have to practice if you want to be good at something. Practice work is not always good. In fact, most practice work is awful. That's why it's practice and not "go professional right now you're the best ever."

Writing is the only field where people think you don't have to practice before being good.

Every field requires practice and training.

Have you ever tried to play a musical instrument? You sucked at it the first time. You knew this, because most humans have an innate ear for music, and hopefully it didn't discourage you.

Most new writers don't have an ear for their writing yet because developing that ear requires training, so they fall into this Dunning-Kruger trap of believing their first draft of their first project is amazing. And then they publish too early, and then they hate it 20 years later and try to remove it from the internet.

Or, in my case, about 12 years later, but I unfortunately cannot remove said early books from my Goodreads profile because Goodreads is forever. At least they're not publicly available anymore.

Today we’re announcing an update on plans for the future of Doctor Who. As part of securing the next phase of the show for future generations, and in line with the BBC’s Charter and Agreement requirements, the BBC will put Doctor Who out to competitive tender this year. Doctor Who remains an important part of the BBC and this tender underpins the BBC’s continued commitment to Doctor Who ensuring audiences will enjoy the show for years to come. After careful consideration, the BBC, Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf have collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor Who Christmas episode. This decision was not taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one off special, we are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory. The previously announced new Doctor Who animation series for CBeebies is currently in production. Details of the tender will be announced in due course.

The BBC retains all IP in Doctor Who. BBC Studios will continue to lead the global distribution of Doctor Who as well as licensing, consumer products, digital and immersive experiences on behalf of the BBC.

and then from Russell T. Davies on Instagram:

Instead of trying to fill paragraphs describing everything, choose one or two things that breathe.

• The way the floorboards creak in one specific spot • A stain on the ceiling no one acknowledges • A flickering light that makes gives everyone a slight headache • The smell of something burnt and forgotten • A crooked family photo • Dust in the sunlight • A cracked mug someone refuses to throw away • The hum of an appliance in silence • A chair that wobbles • A window that should open, but doesn't • Shoes lined up too neatly • A plant flourishing, or showing signs of obvious neglect • The sound of neighbors arguing • A clock that’s slightly off