A lot of people give advice on the craft of writing. I am guilty of this, too (as you can see by this blog post). With so much advice going around, some of it becomes contradictory. What is correct? **
My thoughts are that advice is based on the experience and education of the person providing the advice. This makes the advice limited to that person’s viewpoint.
The more experience and education a person have, the more likely they will give better advice than someone else. But sometimes a person with limited knowledge can have new and unique ideas. In either case, the advice is still based on that person’s view of what they experienced, learned, or knew.
When I give advice in my blog posts, I try to show how this is my experience and education (I hope I have not misled anyone on this). Even though other people may agree with my advice based on their own experience and education, it is still my viewpoint.
Which is why people should get advice from several sources so they can get different viewpoints.
I listen to a couple of podcasts on creativity, grammar rules, editing, and publishing. I also subscribe to several blogs, newsletters, and magazines about writing. This can be a lot of information and data to consume, but I learned to pay attention to what will match my writing goals.
I also pay attention to what does not match my goals. Goals can change or I could adjust or move them around. In the end I decide what matches my writing life the best.
So, this is my advice on advice: listen, read, and learn always
* This blog post is also true for other advice.
** Of course, some of it is wrong, but that is another blog post.