Writing Advice from Writers & Writing Instructors

Annie Cosby
March 31, 2025 | 4 min read

Recently, over 10,000 writers, writing instructors, and publishers from across the U.S. gathered at the annual conference for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs.

We invited attendees to pause from the busy conference for a moment and use one of our Freewrite devices to share their valuable insight about writing and creativity. 

Here's what they had to say:

What is creativity?

"Creativity is a thought that keeps you awake at night. It's something that stabs you in the kidneys when you least expect it. The thoughts that arrive without warning while you're halfway through your midnight shower, then disappearing without so much as a 'farewell,' or a 'you're welcome,' or, more pressingly, 'I'm sorry.'"

"Creativity is like a tangled web of Christmas lights, of ropes, or of kudzu in your backyard, taking up too much of your time. Yet, you can't help but love it. Unless you hate it..."

"Creativity is an experiment."

"Creativity is like going up to the bathroom sink and turning the water on. It lives in the first drop of rain before the storm."

"An abandoned skyscraper with graffiti murals on every floor."

"Creativity to me is searching within the self to find answers to the outside. I've been told that the task of a writer is to not ask questions but answer the questions being asked by everyone else, and often I cannot find the answer. Do I make them up?"

"Creativity is creating a cloud-syncing device with no distractions." (D'awww, thanks!)

What's your best advice for living a creative life?

"Expose yourself to new things. Embrace uncomfortability. Be different."

"Use all your gold, don't save your best lines for your next project."

"Read. Write. Dream."

"The best advice that I have received for living a creative life is to write every day even if it's bad. Bad writing is good writing when you give it meaning."

"The best advice for living a creative life is to believe that you can!"

"Be present. Your life is the best inspiration there is. You're alive. What a miracle!"

Give us one piece of common writing advice and tell us why it's wrong.

"One piece of common writing advice is to stop and think, but I disagree! I say just keep writing! Your ideas will come out on their own when you're forced to keep writing forward."

"Fuck writing for an audience! Write for you first and foremost, regardless of how cringy, how self-indulgent, how sloppy it may be at first. Art is always for the artist as a priority. Anyone else who comes to appreciate it is a nice addition, but you must always seek the expression of the self, for that is the ultimate goal."

"Write for you first and foremost, regardless of how cringy, how self-indulgent, how sloppy it may be at first."

"One piece of common writing advice is to spend hours a day working on a piece of writing, as if spending a long time on your work is the only way for it to be successful. I think that's wrong because writing is a marathon, not a sprint."

What advice would you give to a young writer who wants to change the world?

"Write that shitty first draft."

"1. Have a plan B. 2. Have a plan C. 3. But still, keep writing."

"Forget - remember - forget - dream - forget..."

"Be bold. Be strong. Never stop. The work is never done. The truth is hidden in your blindspot."

"The truth is hidden in your blindspot."

"The world needs you! Go forth and be yourself. That's the only way to bring about any meaningful change.

"To a young writer who wants to change the world, I would tell them that I am figuring shit out too, bro... Freddie Mercury didn't have shit figured out either at such a young age, but in 1975 he was considered a genius for writing 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' Sometimes you don't have to have a goal, I guess I'd tell the young writer. Just keep being a fool, keep at it, keep running. Maybe you will be a genius too."

"What sets your heart on fire?"

"I would tell a young writer that the world is full of words but few of them are worth listening to. Be the kind that's worth listening to.

"I would tell a young writer that you can do it! I'm tired of trying, but I'm sure you can do it."

"What would I tell a young writer? Read, Read, Read. Write, Write, Write."

"Inspired by Roxane Gay: the pen is not mightier than the sword, the pen is the sword."

"Keep writing and build a good writing habit."

"Just write. You know what you need to do. Have no fear. Fear is a dagger in the dark that severs your ties to who you are, and what you will be. With courage, that dagger fades, and instead you will find that you have the ability to speak your mind and your heart in the same way that your favorite person would create."

"You know what you need to do. Have no fear."

"Be bold. Be strong. Be loud."

"The world needs changing so please don't lose that zest for life. We need your thoughts, your ideas, your feelings. But don't let the world change you. When you start sharing your writing it can feel like you need to adjust yourself. But that is the fatal error."

"Ditch the damn rules."


And an honorable mention apropos of nothing:

"Today an Uber driver made me cry with kind words. I tried to tip him, and he insisted I didn't. How wonderful to be held in a Hyundai."

"How wonderful to be held in a Hyundai."

Recommended articles

More recommended articles for you

March 22, 2025 4 min read

I’ve spent years writing while secretly fearing that a single misplaced word would expose me — not just as a bad writer, but as a fraud.

My background is originally in photography, and I see it there, too. A photographer I know recently posted a before-and-after comparison of their editing from 2018 versus now, asking if we also saw changes in our own work over the years.

Naturally, we should. If our work is the same, years apart, have we really grown as artists?

So why is that the growing, the process of it, the daily grind of it, is so painful?

So why is that the growing, the process of it, the daily grind of it, is so painful?

The Haunting

Hitting “publish” on an essay or a blog always stirs up insecurity — the overthinking, the over-editing. The fear that someone will call me out for not being a real writer.

I initially hesitated to make writing part of my freelance work. My background is in photography and design. Writing was something I gravitated toward, but I had no degree to validate it. No official stamp of approval.

Like many writers, I started with zero confidence in my voice — agonizing over edits, drowning in research, second-guessing every word.

I even created a shield for myself: ghostwriting.

I even created a shield for myself: ghostwriting.

If my words weren’t my own, they couldn’t be wrong. Ghostwriting meant safety — no risk, no vulnerability, just words without ownership.

I still remember the feeling of scrolling to the bottom of an article I had written and seeing someone else’s name, their face beside words that had once been mine. It felt uncanny — like recognizing your handwriting but not remembering when or why you wrote those words. I knew it was mine, but it didn't feel like it belonged to me anymore.

The truth is, I always wanted to write. As a kid, I imagined it. Yet, I found myself handing over my work, letting someone else own it.

I told myself it didn’t matter. It was work. Getting paid to write should be enough.

But here’s the thing: I wasn’t just playing it safe — I was slowly erasing myself. Word by word. Edit by edit. And finally, in the by-line.

I wasn’t just playing it safe — I was slowly erasing myself. Word by word. Edit by edit. And finally, in the by-line.

The Disappearing Act

This was true when I was writing under my own name, too. The more I worried about getting it right, the less I sounded like me.

I worried. I worried about how long an essay was (“people will be bored”), finding endless examples as proof of my research (“no way my own opinion is valid on its own”), the title I gave a piece (“it has to be a hook”), or editing out personal touches (“better to be safe than be seen”).

I built a guardrail around my writing, adjusting, tweaking, over-correcting. Advice meant to help only locked me in. It created a sentence rewritten to sound smarter, an opinion softened to sound safer, a paragraph reshaped to sound acceptable.

I built a guardrail around my writing, adjusting, tweaking, over-correcting.

But playing it safe makes the work dull. Writing loses its edge.

It took deliberate effort to break this habit. I’m not perfect, but here’s what I know after a year of intentionally letting my writing sound like me:

My work is clearer. It moves with my own rhythm. It’s less shaped by external influence, by fear, by the constant need to smooth it into something more polished, more likable.

But playing it safe makes the work dull. Writing loses its edge.

Invisible Strings

The drive for acceptance is a slippery slope — one we don’t always realize we’re sliding down. It’s present in the small choices that pull us away from artistic integrity: checking how others did it first, tweaking our work to fit a mold, hesitating before saying what we actually mean.

And let’s be honest — this isn’t just about writing. It bleeds into everything.

It’s there when we stay silent in the face of wrongdoing, when we hold back our true way of being, when we choose work that feels “respectable,” whatever that means. It’s in every “yes” we say when we really want to say “no.”

If your self-expression is rooted in a need for acceptance, are you creating for yourself — or for others? Does your work help you explore your thoughts, your life? Does it add depth, energy, and meaning?

My work is clearer. It moves with my own rhythm. It’s less shaped by external influence, by fear, by the constant need to smooth it into something more polished, more likable.

I get it. We’re social creatures. Isolation isn’t the answer. Ignoring societal norms won’t make us better writers. Often, the most meaningful work is born from responding to or resisting those norms.

But knowing yourself well enough to recognize when acceptance is shaping your work brings clarity.

Am I doing this to be part of a community, to build connections, to learn and grow?

Or am I doing this to meet someone else’s expectations, dulling my voice just to fit in?

Owning the Words

Here’s what I know as I look back at my writing: I’m grateful for the years spent learning, for the times I sought acceptance with curiosity. But I’m in a different phase now.

I know who I am, and those who connect with my work reflect that back at me — in the messages they send, in the conversations we share.

I know who I am, and those who connect with my work reflect that back at me — in the messages they send, in the conversations we share.

It’s our differences that drive growth. I want to nurture these connections, to be challenged by difference, to keep writing in a way that feels like me. The me who isn’t afraid to show what I think and care about.

So, I ask you, as I ask myself now:

If no one was watching, if no one could judge, what would you write?

If no one was watching, if no one could judge, what would you write?

March 20, 2025 6 min read

A book deal without an agent? An agent offer after a book deal? Learn how Writer Bobby Miller took his publishing journey into his own hands. 

March 19, 2025 1 min read

We've chatted with the creatures of Middle Earth to discover their writing preferences and which Freewrite devices work best for each of them.

Find your Lord of the Rings identity and discover your next Freewrite.