When did you decide you wanted to be a writer? For super-star author Beth Reekles, that urge came at fifteen when she started sharing chapters of The Kissing Booth on story-sharing platform Wattpad. It quickly accumulated over 19 million reads and was snapped up by publishers Random House. Since then, Beth has written three more Kissing Booth books and three other YA novels, had her story turned into a smash-hit Neflix film starring Joey King and Jacob Elordi, and is now writing for adults too.

To achieve all this around university and a job (as well as parties, holidays and, well, life), Beth has had to develop some strategies for her writing, from editing all the way down to just getting started. We asked her to share her top tips for budding authors out there, and she came up with some brilliant suggestions:

Five top tips for writers

1. Write the book you want to read

I absolutely swear by this advice. I consider it my motto! I find myself so much more inspired and motivated when I write the kind of book I’d like to be reading, and I definitely would never have written The Kissing Booth if I didn’t follow this advice – I wrote it when vampire romances were all the rage, and I was just a little bored of that, wanting a regular high-school romance instead.

2. Read

When I’m not reading, I’m less inspired to write. I think a lot of that is because when I’m reading, I’ll end up thinking about the kind of storylines and characters I’d like to see that maybe aren’t showing up in the book I’m reading. But also: reading definitely helps you develop your own writing style and pick up on techniques that you might struggle to learn otherwise.

3. Set goals and get organised

I wouldn’t get anything done without my ToDoist app and lists of monthly/yearly goals. I’m a forgetful person anyway, but holding down a full-time job and working on seven books in one year keeps me pretty busy – so organising your time is vital. I’d really advise scheduling in any chores or commitments first, so you can figure out what time you have to write… and set yourself goals, even if it’s just hitting a milestone in your word count, to hold yourself accountable and treat yourself a little when you meet them!

4. Get social

Social media can be pretty daunting and difficult, and I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t unfollowed certain authors because they make me feel like a failure sometimes. But overall, I’ve found the bookish community – especially on Twitter – to be so supportive. It’s great to connect with other writers and something I love to do is share when I am writing and how many words I’ve managed to do in a particular writing session, because it helps drive me. Plus, there’s the added bonus of broadening your audience and connecting to more readers.

5. Just start!

The worst thing you can do when you’re thinking about writing a book is to worry about how to start it. Editing is hard – but trust me, it’s so much easier to edit a bad chapter than to try and write a perfect one in the first place. You’ll edit your novel no matter what, and they do say ‘done’ is better than ‘perfect’. Give it a try and get stuck in! You never know what might happen.

Beth Reekles is the author of The Kissing Booth series (The Kissing Booth, Going the Distance and The Beach House, Penguin Random House) as well as three other novels for young adults (Out of Tune and Rolling Dice, Penguin Random House, and Cwtch Me If You Can, Accent Press). Her first story for adults, It Won’t Be Christmas Without You, is out now in eBook from One More Chapter and will be available in paperback on the 31st October. Beth has also been selected as one of the World Book Day authors for 2020, and her World Book Day £1 book The Kissing Booth: Road Trip! will be published in March 2020.

You can follow Beth on Twitter, Instagram or visit her website where she shares more of her top tips as part of her Writing Wednesdays series.