Grace Flahive is a second-year McGill Arts student who recently published a novel called Rocketry Absurd. In an interview with Leacock’s, she also gives out some solid writing advice:
“I think the most important thing is that you have to write every day. If you’re actually honest with yourself, there are twenty minutes of any day that you can dedicate to writing, whether or not you want to admit it to yourself. As long as you force yourself, don’t make excuses, sit down and write something every single day then get into a rhythm, that’s when it gets really easy and the ideas flow. The more days that you go without writing, the scarier it seems.”
She also has some solid words on sticking it out despite the struggle:
“I think the hardest part – and I think this is what a lot of people feel, whether you’re writing an essay or a short story or a novel – is that everyone has these brilliant ideas in their head, and as soon as they put it on paper, it’s awful. You can never perfectly translate what’s in your head. The hardest part is writing a draft, reading it back, and realizing it’s not what you were trying to say. The hardest part is not being discouraged, or being discouraged and writing anyway. Continuing to write even when it seems pointless.”
Prior to Rocketry Absurd, Flahive had already written two other novels. Combined with her age and relatively mature wisdom about the nature of writing, Flahive is the kind of person that makes you slightly jealous because you would have loved to be half-as accomplished in your second year of university.
You can read the full interview here. Flahive is also on Twitter: @toomanystories.
(h/t: Gerry Flahive)
Karen K. Ho 