Of course you do!

It’s totally easy! Just follow these 3 simple steps…

1. Write every day. Doesn’t matter what. Stupid stuff, funny stuff, poems that don’t rhyme. Don’t worry if it’s crap. I write crap all the time! Just keep writing. It keeps your creative gears from getting rusty.
2. Always! Be! Reading! It doesn’t matter which books. Smart ones, goofy ones, comic books, magazines. Read off your phone or in the library or in a hammock. Fiction, non-fiction, whatevs. Just keep turning those pages!
3. The third step, and by far the most important is this: make as many interesting friends as you can! Hang out with people who are totally different than you. People from different countries, who speak different languages, who listen to the weirdest, wildest music you’ve ever heard! Make friends with older people, and people who are younger. Seek out storytellers. Laughers. People who cry at movies.

The more friends you have, the more stuff you’ll be exposed to, and the more you’ll have to write about. I never would’ve written either of my novels if not for some amazing friends who inspired the stories.

Warning: If possible, avoid making friends with gun smugglers and bank robbers. They’re interesting, but also dangerous. We writers need to draw the line somewhere.