Some days you just need a little nudge...

A simple reminder that you're not alone on this path you've chosen. Maybe you simply need to know that someone else has been there before--behind a different keyboard, holding a different pen.

For Shared Worlds 2013, we have asked some of speculative fiction's finest artists, editors, and writers to write advice on their own hands and send us a picture.

If you enjoy this gallery of advice, please lend Shared Worlds a hand by telling your friends and sharing the link to this page

"Your story is not done until you have told it to someone you would not trust with your life."
Gregory Norman Bossert 

"Persist!"
Tobias Buckell 

"It can feel like flying. It can feel like cutting stone with your teeth. Even passion can be a chore. Do it anyway. No one else will write your story. Don't be afraid of silence and the fertility of boredom."
C.S.E. Cooney 

"Read great work in all genres and languages; read powerful second-rank work ditto, which will teach you the standard tricks more clearly; dream; think; lastly write, keeping in mind that stories are made out of words and sentences and not out of visions and longings."
John Crowley 

"Persistence is worth at least as much as talent. The writing life is not a series of gentle encouragements. It's more like a series of brutal kicks in the teeth. Those who grow a thick enough skin to persevere, survive. Those who do not, do not."
Gardner Dozois 

"The world is not obligated to care."
David Drake 

"Sometimes the secret to creating timeless characters is knowing what to leave out."
Scott Eagle 

"Write. Finish things. Keep writing."
Neil Gaiman 

"Find something to make you grateful for the relative docility of deadlines!"
Jaym Gates 

"1. Read everything.
2. Never give up.
3. Don't take anybody's writing advice too seriously."
Lev Grossman 

"The first and last sentence are the hardest to write."
Chanda Hahn 

"Don't 'write what you know.' Make up something new!"
Joe Haldeman 

"Persist."
N.K. Jemisin 

"Be fearless."
Kirsten Imani Kasai 

"A little story is supported by a lot of untold backstory. What they get is more than what they see."
Karen Lord 

"Finish your stories! Read a lot!"
Karin Lowachee 

"1. Read widely
2. Write often
3. Keep going
4. Believe in your stories"
Garth Nix 

"Write what you would love to read. Finish what you begin to write. Your voice is uniquely yours and we are all waiting to hear it."
Jody Lynn Nye 

"Writers write."
Nnedi Okorafor 

"Read. Hope. Face your life. Write your dream."
Robert V. S. Redick 

"Never give up."
Kit Reed 

"Sit your ass down and write."
Patrick Rothfuss 

"Do not underestimate the importance of telling details."
Ekaterina Sedia 

"Fix it later. For now, JUST WRITE!"
Sharon Shinn 

"Proof red read your work."
Angela Slatter 

"Your first thought is often the best one. You know, the one that felt too weird or silly or stupid. Trust your imagination - it knows what it's doing."
Karin Tidbeck 

"Never be afraid to use the wrong word."
Lavie Tidhar 

"Trust your instincts. They're usually right."
Ann VanderMeer 

"Trust your imagination. Don't be afraid to fail. Write. Revise. Revise. Revise."
Jeff VanderMeer 

"Start the next one!"
Gene Wolfe 

"BIC. Butt In Chair. A writer writes something every day. It may be a poem, a chapter, an outline, an idea. It may be song lyrics, or character notes. It may be a revision. But that writing muscle needs to be exercised every day. No vacations."
Jane Yolen 

"Unsee, then create..."
Jeremy Zerfoss