Writing Advice From David Sedaris

David Sedariskicks off a book tour todayfor his latest collection of essays,Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. Yesterday Sedaris hosted aReddit AMA — a chance for fans to “ask me anything.” The forum is full of Sedaris’ signature dark wit, including advice to a few aspiring writers in the crowd. Here are some highlights:

On overcoming writer’s block:

Sometimes when I’m stuck, I’ll open an English textbook, and do the homework.
There are a lot of college writing textbooks that will include essays and short stories, and after reading the story or essay, there will be questions such as “Have YOU Had any experience with a pedophile in YOUR family?”or “When was the last time you saw YOUR mother drunk?”and they’re just really good at prompting stories. You answer the question, and sometimes that can spring into a story.
You know, this is really good advice: I mean, I don’t have advice to offer on many things, butTHATis good advice, and you’re NOT gonna hear it from a lot of other places.

On what he wishes he had known when he was starting out as a writer:

I wish I’d understood that people were actually going toreadwhat I wrote.
For some reason, that came as the biggest surprise to me!
I got that they wouldbuythe books, I would see them at the cash register, handing over their money. That I understood. But i never occurred to me that they would actuallyreadthem.
That’sterrifying.
Well, I think especially when you get older as a writer and you look back at things that you wrote 30 years ago, it’s so embarrassing for you, and the thought that somebody in Lincoln, Nebraska, is reading that right now… makes me want to cry BLOOD.

In response to the question, “would you still be putting yourself out there if you had never got any validation?”

I know I would still be writing.
And I would still be reading out loud. I think that if you are any kind of an artist, then validation is just sort of… it can be a result, but you’re going to do the work anyway. Because you’re just wired that way. It’s so engrained, it’s such a part of your personality that you don’t just stop doing it. Eventually I’ll retire on some level, eventually no one will want to buy my books or a ticket to see me read, it’s inevitable that’s going to happen.
Uhuhuhuh
fake cries
But it won’t stop me from writing.
I’ll just write about how sad I am all the time.

Read the full AMA here, with advice on how to ignore phone calls, the best way to read 50 Shades of Grey, and what Sedaris considers his spirit animal.