If It Sounds Like Writing...

Some people get so lucky as to meet their literary heroes, and if they are even luckier, that hero utters a single sentence that, taken to heart, can meaningfully and permanently inform one's writing process. It's flash-mentoring, and apparently it happens in real life to other people.

Todd Zuniga's newish blog showcases such advice. It's a panacea for all of those with writer's block, ennui, or an internet connection (or, all of us, at some point). A couple of my favorites:

If it sounds like writing, rewrite it.

S. Patrick was told by Elmore Leonard

The best writing happens in the twenty minutes you DON’T get up for a cup of coffee.

Andrew O. Dugas was told by Ron Carlson

I keep hoping to send Todd my own nugget of appropriated writerly wisdom one day soon. But I have never met my favorite authors (with one notable exception -- and she did not want to bestow advice, she wanted me to disappear).

And then I am reminded of what I like to think of as my charming tendency to not ever remember the good advice I get anyway.