What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?
Hello my advice are the following:
Read a lot, read good books because reading brings many benefits. Reading you will learn to structure stories, to create and show characters, to express yourself better; and even if you do not believe it, you will improve 100% the spelling mistakes, you will have a wide vocabulary because when you read you also discover new words and you will meet authors of all kinds and stories of all kinds.
Take paper everywhere (you can also write in your blog of cell phone or tablet notes) You never know when a new idea may arise, so try to have where to write them so you do not forget ideas.
Feel proud of what you write ALWAYS, since you may feel discouraged to see that the idea you plasmaste on paper was not as expected, but calm that often happens to many writers. We are our worst critic, you want everything to be so perfect that you criticize EVERYTHING, until you think "I do not like it" but calm, when that happens just rest a little, distract and after a while keep writing, never stop writing.
Never listen to those people who say "Stop writing" "almost no one emerges in the world of writing" "Writing is a waste of time" "study something else" since people are the main cause for losing dreams, you have to believe in yourself and prove at all costs that your effort will be worth it, and that your ideas are worth gold so I encourage.
Be patient, many writers want to write and months to be read or be famous, but calm down, do it for your love of writing and be patient that all efforts bear fruit, the time of God is perfect and everything happens under your certain time .. Leave your future in the hands of destiny and enjoy writing.
Never compare yourself to other people, all writers are different, all people are different, each one has a different touch and thought that makes them unique and different, so never compare yourself with others, your writing is UNIQUE AND PERFECT
You have to be your best fan, because if you are not, nobody will be, love your writing, defend yourself before people, write without stopping, don't listen to negative comments, and express yourself, be free and above all BE HAPPY and do what make you happy ...