100 Words of Writing Advice from Cindy DiTiberio, Publisher

“To be a writer you must read, and read extensively. It is part of the work. When you don’t know what to write, pick up a book. There are times I think I have nothing left to say, but then I read a few paragraphs and ideas begin to emerge. Don’t push them aside. Let them marinate. Don’t get up from where you are sitting. If possible, keep a notebook at your side, or like me, use the Notes feature in your phone. Catch the ideas as they sit on the cusp of your consciousness. Type them in fragments, sometimes they come in sentences, other times full paragraphs. Sometimes our bravest ideas are birthed when we are doing something else rather than sitting staring at a blank page.”

– Cindy DiTiberio, Publisher at Literary Mama

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Cindy DiTiberio is a writer and collaborator who has worked in publishing for the past eighteen years. She writes the Substack newsletter “The Mother Lode,” and her writing has appeared on The Lily, Scary Mommy, The Brevity Blog, and The Voices Project. She worked as an editor at HarperOne, a division of HarperCollins based in San Francisco, for nine years before becoming a ghostwriter, collaborating on eleven books over the last eight years. Learn more at www.cynthiaditiberio.com