I received a really nice email from a fan today:

I just wanted to say "Thanks". I am an aspiring writer, as most of us are, and the Writing Tips portion of your blog really helped me get through my writer's block of my novel. I have had some mediocre success locally with my short stories and tackling a novel seemed out of my reach. I had a thirty page detailed outline, I had written my prologue and the first four chapters. Then I hit a brick wall. I felt uninspired for around four months, so I didn't write a single word. After reading your Writing Tips, I have gone back to forcing myself to write by pages rather than time. I have found myself very much enjoying my time and making astonishing fast and steady progress. As of now I am working on Chapter 7. So thank you. Your blog inspired me and has helped me march onward.

I get a lot of emails from budding authors asking for advice, so over the space of a few years I did my best to answer as many of them as I could, covering every aspect of the writing process that I could think of. You can find the results here: http://www.darrenshan.com/writing-tips/ It's the length of a book, but it's not really a "How To" book, more of a "This Is What I Do" book. I don't think there is any one "correct" way to become an author, and I am always suspicious of people who offer definitive answers. The best I think writers like me can do is report back on what we have experienced in the trenches, and hopefully that will prove of some assistance to those who are out there fighting the good fight.