A bit of advice on writing.

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I'm sure many people have said this before, but I thought I'd say it too. Don't run before you can crawl.

For example, I wrote a novelle about 143 pages and 30,000 odd words long. It was terrible. I had little experience in writing at that time.

I decided to start writing poetry, fanfiction and stories. Poetry helps you to be more metaphorical and to describe things better. Short stories help because it's like writing a full novel with original characters and stories, only shorter. Fanfiction helps because you can get straight to writing. You don't need to make new worlds or characters, the only thing you need to do is add plot.

After you've done this for a few years, you might be able to make your next attempt at a novel successful. (I've already had 7 attempts, none successful yet)

-Onion MD

I agree in that writing, writing, writing is the best thing any writer - aspiring, novice, or professional - can do to hone his or her craft.
Writing short stories will also help with developing your powers of description and characterization. Plus, short fiction writing will give you a sense of accomplishment before you try tackling a novel. Remember, short stories can be sold in book form as anthologies. That's what I did with my several short stories.
I will add, read, read, read. You can never write fiction unless you're familiar with it.

I'm currently writing a series of children's books. Two done and evaluated by a pro getting ready to be sent off to agents suggested. One in the second rewrite, three more as outlines waiting on getting research done in person. One in planning. This has been my first real attempt so far. I'll let you know how it goes. I think starting with novellas, short stories, children's or flash fiction is great though. I really hope I learn enough through my latest phase to be able to speak intelligently with my fellow hopeful authors here. Truthfully, I'm pretty freaked out right now. I haven't written anything seriously since Comp. 102. No I'm not saying how long ago.

I'm probably biased as a relatively successful poet but I wouldn't say that short = easy.

I find article writing easy and vox pop easy. Not sure if this is unusual in an aspie. It's just because people like hearing what I've got to say, without it really being a craft.

But 10+ drafts of something, where every piece of punctuation, let alone every word matters - that isn't easy.

I'd say that my mind finds it easier than novel writing but that's because I'm more lyrical than narrative driven and even the novels I like to read aren't very 'novelesque'.

Thank you for the advice, i have been encouraged to write fanfiction and i'm really hesitant to try it. I have trouble putting my thoughts into words and haven't been reading for a long time. I did something like a character's musings but i'm not sure how it turned out..

Poetry's great because you don't even need paper, if you can remember a verse to a song, you can probably construct a poem or a verse without writing it down. If it's catchy it will probably stick around long enough to get it down on paper later.

Good advice! I've been writing poetry for years. Have lots of ideas for short stories and eventually I'd like to write a novel. I just need to save money and get myself into retirement at the age of 30 which is kind of my goal.

It is possible to write while saving up for retirement.
Then there's me, who chooses the life of a starving artist. I'll very probably never be rich, but I'm a published writer, and so I can say I'm sincerely happy.

well done for being published! I would love to read your books

I'm never going to be rich but I want a little peace of mind so that I'm not a burden to my parents. The idea of owning a cottage makes me very happy. I don't want to rent for the rest of my life.

I dont think i have the mental endurance of "neurotypicals" or whatever to work full time in a job I don't like for long.

My horror fiction anthology is entitled, Creeping Shadows, while I have stories in a couple anthologies called, A Roll Of The Dice, and A Roll Of The Dice II. All three are available on Amazon. If interested, look up the title with my name, Bill Link, as I discovered that the name Creeping Shadows has been used by several authors.
I agree with you about going crazy working a job you hate. It's not just autistics that feel this way, but quite often anyone involved in the arts.

I will look them up

yes, us eccentric don't do well in these strict, sterile environments

I believe we likely have a different variety of mental endurance relative to entees. A number of jobs I've had, supervisors have commented on my ability to tolerate ultra-repetitive, menial tasks (boxing staples for example) that generally coworkers could rarely stand for two hours, for entire eight or ten hour shifts. The day-to-day is gruelling, but the minute-to-minute is fine. Usually coworkers complain about the minute-to-minute of those tasks, but don't get my issues with the day-to-day, or at least don't get the severity.

I need to escape that world, it's soul-crushing and exhausting.