Sometimes even simple advice can’t be followed…

Let’s start simple with the most basic advice any beginning writer gets in their quest to become better: “write what you know.”

Over the last few years, I’ve seen this four word sentence everywhere. The first time I’d heard it was from my aunt Brenda. If anyone can be directly credited for my love of reading and writing, it’s her. And when I was a wee thing of fifteen, I’d asked my aunt what would help me become a better writer. Brenda said, “The most important rule you always have to remember is ‘write what you know.”

I was a smart-ass even then, and my exact response was, “Yeah, right! I can’t write what I know, or I’d be arrested!”

To which my aunt replied, “That’s what fiction is for.”