Whether it’s good or bad to give advice or receive it depends I think on how good the result ultimately turns out to be. Giving or accepting, we should beware, though. Giving advice is dangerous because our advice could be totally wrong and end up hurting someone. Or it could be right that time, and encourage the person and others to ask for our advice again, when we might not be so astute. Often we give the advice we would like for ourselves and it doesn’t fit the person asking at all. Or we don’t understand their situation fully.
I have given bad advice many a time. Not intentionally, but it still feels just as rotten when the person I doled out my opinion to is in tears. Or angry.
Receiving advice is just as tricky. I have accepted advice because it was what I wanted to hear and it turned out all wrong. I’ve also turned down advice for the same reason and with the same result. No matter how illogical, it’s hard not to blame the advice giver when that happens. “So-and-so told me I should/shouldn’t do such-and-such. It’s not my fault!” Of course it always was my fault.
The worst advice I was given as a writer is to write a particular kind of book. At the time, a lot of people were writing those books and having success, so I gave in. Unfortunately, I ignored one of Shakespeare’s famous lines: To thine own self be true (Hamlet). I gave up the effort, but not until after I’d spent much time and effort on it.
So what advice is best? When the advice is tested by time. Here are some examples from 25 Excellent Pieces of Advice That Most People Ignore.
- Take time to know yourself
- A narrow focus brings big results
- Don’t make assumptions
- Be your best at all times
- Don’t be afraid of being afraid
And here are a few goodies from the Bard. 
- Neither a borrower nor a lender be (Hamlet)
- What’s done cannot be undone (Macbeth) [So be careful when you decide what you want “done.”]
- Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none (All’s Well that End’s Well)
- Better a witty fool than a foolish wit (Twelfth Night)
- ‘Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall (Measure for Measure)
- That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man/If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. (Two Gentlemen of Verona) [There is more than one interpretation of this statement to an erotic romance writer!]
All of this sage advice is great but I heard one more I’d like to share. I heard a TV interview with a terribly wounded soldier who found the strength to turn his injuries around and help others damaged by war. I could kick myself now because I can’t recall his name but I remember his advice, and it’s good.
You can’t always control your situation, but you can control your attitude about your situation.
Some advice to take to heart! May all your advice (given and received) be useful and fruitful, and from the heart.
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Dee
Only a Good Man Will Do: Seriously ambitious man seeks woman to encourage his goals, support his (hopeful) position as Headmaster of Westover Academy, and be purer than Caesar’s wife. Good luck with that!
Naval Maneuvers: When a woman requires an earth-shattering crush of pleasure to carry her away, she can’t do better than to call on the US Navy. Sorry, Marines!
with a beautiful seductress until the British government sends him on a spying assignment. The deadly mission sees Adrian and his family running for their lives through a war-torn Europe. On the perilous road to home, a web of spies and assassins surround them on all sides. As the danger grows, Adrian finds himself more drawn to the lovely Gabrielle. A nightmare of betrayal and brutality follow them as Adrian risks everything to get his family back home.
Men and women of the armed forces deal experience desire and love pretty much like everyone else. Except, well, there is that uniform. And the hard-to-resist attraction of “duty, honor, service” as a man might apply them to a woman’s pleasure. All things considered, romance among the military is a pretty sexy, compelling force for which you’d better be armed, whether weighing anchor and moving forward into desire, dropping anchor and staying put for passion, or setting a course for renewed love with anchor home.
We all remember our firsts in life; first kiss, first love, first sexual experience. Black Velvet Seductions present a collection of eleven short stories, from eleven great writers, on the subject of First Submission within a Domination and submission relationship. The authors are from different backgrounds across the world and have written a broad spectrum of stories on such diverse themes as straight, gay, BDSM, domestic discipline, age play and multiple partners. A red hot read of wide ranging sexy stories to thrill and tantalize! Discover the authors and their stories on the 
policeman and so much more. There’s a little erotic romance for everyone, including ménage, BDSM, spanking, and… Well you’ll have to see for yourself on the 
The question this week is whether life exists outside of writing. For me, the better question is, does writing exist outside of life? Without life experiences, is there anything upon which to base a short story, novella, or novel? I doubt it. Even a splendid imagination needs some comparison in order to work. If you only know one place or one type of person, it would be much harder to develop a well-rounded story line.
cities like San Francisco and Chicago to small places like Appleton, WI and Greenwood, SC—we’ve met and made friends with people from all walks of life, helping me to give depths to my stories and characters.
Churchill, so that’s who we’re going with. Well, actually, he first said that there is no one he would kill or be willing to die to have dinner with. That’s my literal husband.
again but he persevered. He was not one to say, “I hope I will survive this,” he was one to say, “I will prevail. I will have victory.” And he did.
never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.
I really don’t care for the term bucket list. I’d rather think that my wishes of things to do reside in a basket full of flowers. “Bucket” is a little too rustic for me. I prefer something like this basket of cheery daffodils, each one labeled with something I want to do before I die.
Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Of course, the movie was about self-discovery, and not just doing things you’ve always wanted to do before the Grim Reaper says your time has run out. Since I feel like—for the moment—that I’ve discovered everything about myself I care to, my Basket of Flowers List is about doing things for the sheer desire of doing them.
an eighteen wheeler. When our friends were older and dangling grandchildren on their knees, we were moving around the country chasing consulting jobs. We seized the day in every way we could. But there are still a few things I’d like to do someday. (Someday implies hope and not “better hurry up.”)
exploring it each time I’ve had the chance. Do I have a shot at doing it again? Sadly, probably no.
Carol Schoenig used to joke with co-workers that when she retired she was going to sit on a beach and write scintillating romance novels.
of marvel, a bit of mystery. Now it felt much more scientific. A big rock-like entity to be explored. It had nothing to do with romance and love and everything to do with accomplishment an changed perceptions. It’s impossible to explain to someone who didn’t watch it that day the pride that filled all of us. Or the thrill. Or the fear that something would happen to keep our guys from coming home.
Vignettes Parisian
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