Idle hands are the devil's playthings.

People are often surprised to hear Raymond used to be a bad boy.

How bad?

Well, as a teenager, I ended up attending five different high schools, getting into fights, stealing, drinking, ditching classes, experimenting with drugs, and a wide range of criminal activities I regret.

Looking back, I can attribute my misbehavior to two things:

• Too much free time
• Too little to

Basically, I was bored.

Being bored isn’t fun and you should think about this when you’re writing.

Because if your readers are bored, they’ll stop reading.

So how can you avoid being a boring writer?

Learn how to avoid boredom in real life.

Specifically, some things you can do:

• Express an interest in new ideas
• Pay more attention to details
• Be aware of the people around you
• Share your personal experiences, feelings, and ideas

Overall, you want to learn how to avoid boredom.

Because as the saying goes:

If you’re bored, you’re boring.

And if you’re bored, your writing and readers will be bored too.

Raymond Duke