What to do with all that writing advice?

There's a lot of writing advice out there. Some good. Some okay. Some bad.

I sometimes wonder if well meaning “writing instructors” aren’t a little bit like Homer Simpson, at least when it comes to giving advice.

Homer famously said: “And I gave that man directions, even though I didn't know the way, because that's the kind of guy I am this week.” (That might not be the exact quote, but it seems accurate to me. I got it from here.)

There is a lot of writing advice out there.

Some of it’s good. Some of it’s okay.

And some of it might send you down the wrong path, costing you years. 

Some advice might also be bad for you, but good advice for somebody else. One of the reasons why it’s hard to understand whether or not writing advice is any good is because something that works for one might not work for another.

How can you tell the difference between what’s worthwhile and what’s not?

There isn’t a simple way to answer this question, but here are some questions to ask:

1. Does it seem right to you?

2. Does it seem like it will work for you?

3. What are other authors doing?

4. Do you know of a successful author who does what’s being recommended?

5. How much time will it take?

6. How much will it cost?

7. Is the person giving the advice an actual author?

8. Can you try it out without it costing a lot of time and/or money?