 if you want to be a writer you've got to read a lot and read the kind of things that you love don't read things that you think are good that people tell you are good for you yes so read the stuff that excites you and and when you're if you want to be a writer I think the important thing is to you've got to write stuff that you feel passionate about the stuff that kind of comes from deep within you don't think oh psychological thrillers are popular so I'll try and write a cycle to your thriller or or any or any genre and when you do kind of find the kind of stories that you want to tell if you want to be published you've got to be very clear about exactly where you fit so you need to know which authors you're like which which kind of books you would sit alongside on the bookshelf you can't say oh my book's a little bit this or a little bit that or it's a little hybrid of three completely weird disconnected things you've got to have a kind of a strong commercial idea of where you sit in the market if you want to be able to find an agent and then find the publisher and I think that's what kind of held me back for a long time is that I didn't have that clear vision of exactly the kind like my what my brand was and people hate talking about themselves as brands but kind of sometimes you do have to think like that to know exactly what kind of books you're writing if you're just writing for a hobby or for pleasure whatever it doesn't matter but if you want to write as a career then you do have to know that kind of stuff so yeah that's my that's the kind of thing I always say to aspiring writers is well where do you fit can you describe your book in a sentence or two and you've got to have that real clarity of vision about yourself and your books