But this is one of the best ones I have read to date.
Love the insights throughout.
If I were to add another item for my younger self, I would say: spend more time with people you disagree with… something along those lines. It took me a long time to break out of the silos I set up around myself back in undergrad. Wish i deconstructed those sooner rather than later.
Thanks for this, Sam. I appreciate all ten rules, but I especially like your section on writing as the art of learning to be alone. Funny thing is, I’d say all this advice remains meaningful to writers, whatever their ages. In my experience, the best writing advice resonates when we’re older and have made all these mistakes and figured out it’s okay and at least tried to forgive ourselves. And Rule #5, something my son could benefit from knowing right now? That one, I think, is often learned the hard way.
One thing I'd add to this, Sam, is that young people ought to pay attention to the importance of community. There's so much emphasis on "getting out" of whatever environment a young person perceives as oppressive, but sometimes that means leaving behind a great deal of what matters most. I think it was good for me to gain some distance from the religious community that raised me, but I always wanted to settle in the Pacific Northwest again, and my career path never allowed me to do it. Now family circumstances have delayed that (eventual, hopefully) return.
Plenty of people grow up in alienated communities with strip malls and few distinguishing cultural characteristics. But those of us who grew up with neighbors whose joys and sorrows we shared and a coherent set of cultural values, like the self-reliance and frugality that defines rural Montana (and many other rural communities), have a valuable birthright. You can't easily replace that kind of community, even if it doesn't offer the same illusion of unlimited self-realization that American mythology offers.
Your statement 'writing — more than stories, more than craft, more than language, more than anything — is the art of learning to be alone' reminded me of one of the best things ever written about being a writer (in my view and many others), namely 'The Talent of the Room' by Michael Ventura. I had this in hard copy for years (it was published in 1993) and now I'm happy to say that someone called Kelley Eskridge has posted it, with full permission, on her blog http://kelleyeskridge.com/other-things/the-talent-of-the-room/
Basically, the essay is about how, without the ability to stay in a room alone for years, a writer can't hope to make it. It's helped me a lot and, like your piece here, it's good to revisit when things get tough.
Ha, I could have used this about 20 years ago...
Gold.
We make a lot of lists on Substack.
But this is one of the best ones I have read to date.
Love the insights throughout.
If I were to add another item for my younger self, I would say: spend more time with people you disagree with… something along those lines. It took me a long time to break out of the silos I set up around myself back in undergrad. Wish i deconstructed those sooner rather than later.
Thanks for this, Sam. I appreciate all ten rules, but I especially like your section on writing as the art of learning to be alone. Funny thing is, I’d say all this advice remains meaningful to writers, whatever their ages. In my experience, the best writing advice resonates when we’re older and have made all these mistakes and figured out it’s okay and at least tried to forgive ourselves. And Rule #5, something my son could benefit from knowing right now? That one, I think, is often learned the hard way.
great insight
Wonderful. Love the 'energy' part especially. Lucky students.
One thing I'd add to this, Sam, is that young people ought to pay attention to the importance of community. There's so much emphasis on "getting out" of whatever environment a young person perceives as oppressive, but sometimes that means leaving behind a great deal of what matters most. I think it was good for me to gain some distance from the religious community that raised me, but I always wanted to settle in the Pacific Northwest again, and my career path never allowed me to do it. Now family circumstances have delayed that (eventual, hopefully) return.
Plenty of people grow up in alienated communities with strip malls and few distinguishing cultural characteristics. But those of us who grew up with neighbors whose joys and sorrows we shared and a coherent set of cultural values, like the self-reliance and frugality that defines rural Montana (and many other rural communities), have a valuable birthright. You can't easily replace that kind of community, even if it doesn't offer the same illusion of unlimited self-realization that American mythology offers.
This is a great list! I especially love “the art of being lonely” and competence via incompetence, but all of these are wise and true. :-)
This is all spot on.
Your statement 'writing — more than stories, more than craft, more than language, more than anything — is the art of learning to be alone' reminded me of one of the best things ever written about being a writer (in my view and many others), namely 'The Talent of the Room' by Michael Ventura. I had this in hard copy for years (it was published in 1993) and now I'm happy to say that someone called Kelley Eskridge has posted it, with full permission, on her blog http://kelleyeskridge.com/other-things/the-talent-of-the-room/
Basically, the essay is about how, without the ability to stay in a room alone for years, a writer can't hope to make it. It's helped me a lot and, like your piece here, it's good to revisit when things get tough.