Dan Alatorre

“Believe in yourself and start achieving your dream. It waits for you on the other side of the publish button.”

“Kids are flat-out freaking hilarious if you are paying attention. Not just my kid, but every kid.”

“I take the rawest, realest moments in anyone’s life and I open them up and lay them bare. The innocence of a five year old child, the awkwardness of a teenager’s first sexual encounter, the heartbreak of longing for a relationship you can’t have, confronting the possibility of the death of your newborn child, whatever it is, you open your soul and put it out there and dare the world to read it, ready to have them stomp on you and laugh, but ready to do it again the next day. You have to put yourself out there as a writer, you can’t play it safe. Great writing isn’t safe.”

“Pound it out, get it done, write every day. No excuses. Kerouac said you can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club. Damn straight. You’ll sleep a lot better getting your word count in than another quick Twitter check or keeping up to date on the Kardashians.”

“Honesty makes stories real and characters memorable. From there, taking them to where they need to go will be all the development they need.”

“You have to put yourself out there as a writer, you can’t play it safe.”