The most important think I have learned is a writer’s most useful tools for editing is time away from the Manuscript, reading out loud and honest feedback.  Although, through the process you have to write the story you want to!  It’s all about you, or me I should say, the writer.  But if you want to publish what you write, and let the manuscript out of your clutches to be thrown to the wolves, you must be prepared to get as many responses as people you’ve shown it too.  Also, if you show your stuff to mates and family, you will get a lot of. ‘Wow that’s really great.’  Which is ego pumping but not really helpful.  

Like the guy on American Idol whose mother told him he could sing.  He embarrasses himself on National TV and Simon Cowell tells him. ‘Your mother lied.’

Peter Jackson says he would love to come back to his work after forgetting all about it so he could see it with a stranger’s eyes; which is what you need.  But impossible unless you lose stuff and find it years later.  Which I have done and not realised I wrote it, thought it was great, and wondered why the lazy git who wrote it hadn’t finished it. 

The most challenging thing I’ve had to do as an artist, thus far is to learn to take on board other peoples opinions about my work.  This is the worst aspect of being a writer in a mentoring process.  I baulked against basically everything she told me too do.  It was a case of me telling her ‘You don’t understand?’  It took me a while to figure out if she didn’t understand, 80 % of my readers won’t understand...