101 Secrets of Indie Lit Success
71) It doesn’t hurt to have an interesting tattoo. It might not help, but it won’t hurt. Well, it might hurt a little, but you get the point.
72) Leave Brooklyn for a while. Go anywhere. But leave Brooklyn.
73) Come back to Brooklyn and write about where you’ve been. Maybe you spent time as a long haul trucker. Maybe you were fishing for tilapia in the Salton Sea. Write about it.
74) It’s good—it’s important—to have lots of friends. But also, have at least one really, really good friend who will be honest with you and tell you that you are a writer and you will always be a writer and that you must never give up that dream.
75) It is so important to have someone who believes you are a genius.
76) That person cannot be in your family. Nor can it be you.
77) Make sure you can make good coffee and always have a cup ready. Some people, even some writers, don’t drink caffeine, but they are wrong and probably won’t enjoy great indie success.
78) Make sure you have a bunch of plaid flannel shirts. These are just comfortable as hell and winter is coming.
79) The first time you get paid for your work, consider framing the check because it’s your first as a writer and it’s only $50. Deposit it immediately because, hey, that’s $50! That’s now a lot of money for you.
80) Read. What are you reading? You should be reading everything. Books. News. The New Yorker. But most of all keep informed by reading n+1, Electric Literature, Tin House, The Coffin Factory, Vol 1. Read these because you’ll probably run into some of the people who are involved at these places and you’ll want to be informed before you talk to them.