I try to remind myself of these things almost every day.

1. There are no rules in fiction. (You can do whatever you can get away with.)
2. Writing a book is hard. That’s just the nature of it.
3. Sometimes, the difference between a published writer and an unpublished writer is 17 drafts.
4. Play your own game — not someone else’s.
5. Every sentence should do more than one thing.
6. Try to think of your writing career and your publishing career as two separate things. You have some control over one of them, and almost no control over the other. (This is equally useful in good times and bad.)
7. Don’t be afraid to make a mess in front of yourself.
8. Try to do a little good work every day. (For me, that sometimes means writing just one good sentence.)
9. Don’t take your reader’s attention for granted. The reader is busy. The reader has a lot of other things to do.

And lastly, I try to think of this one every day:

10. Be patient.

Karen Thompson Walker, Ten Pieces of Advice I’ve Never Forgotten
(via powells)