So, You Want to Be a Writer!
Like countless others, you have imperial dreams of someday seeing your words in print, of the rest of the world suddenly waking up to who you are and what you have to say.
Perhaps you have an inspiring tale to tell, or the next great novel slowly cooking in your brain, one bound to be an instant best seller once it is written and published.
Where do you start? Well, if you want to be a writer, the secret, if there is one, is to write, write, and then write some more.
Writing is an art form that must be perfected through practice.
Try different styles, different subjects, different types of writing.
Experiment.
Try poetry.
Try short stories.
Try magazine articles.
Find out what works for you.
Write about anything and everything.
Experiment with language.
Come up with a hundred different ways of expressing what you want to say.
Put color and feeling into your words.
Choose a subject you have never previously considered.
Let people see what you have written.
Let them criticize and bleed all over it.
Whether it is their blood or yours doesn't matter.
Then pick yourself up by the boot straps, nurse your wounds and write again.
Writing serves as food for thought, so the more you write, the more there is to write.
You need not fear ever running out of topics.
Take notice of what catches your eye in the world around you.
Ask yourself why those things catch your eye, and not a million other things there are to notice.
As you look closer, observe how much of life you tend to miss.
Notice the people around you.
Every one of them has a story they are dying to tell.
Most of them have two or three great tales, and aren't even sure which ones are true.
Learn to laugh with them and at yourself.
Go where people talk and listen for the gold.
Capture what it is to be human, taking in the good as well as the bad, the beautiful as well as the ugly.
Have compassion for those around you as well as for yourself.
Explore life, love and happiness.
Take note of the part loneliness and sorrow plays in life.
Observe the meaning you give things.
Learn what it is to be fully alive and alert to life, for only then will you have a story worth telling.
Perhaps you have an inspiring tale to tell, or the next great novel slowly cooking in your brain, one bound to be an instant best seller once it is written and published.
Where do you start? Well, if you want to be a writer, the secret, if there is one, is to write, write, and then write some more.
Writing is an art form that must be perfected through practice.
Try different styles, different subjects, different types of writing.
Experiment.
Try poetry.
Try short stories.
Try magazine articles.
Find out what works for you.
Write about anything and everything.
Experiment with language.
Come up with a hundred different ways of expressing what you want to say.
Put color and feeling into your words.
Choose a subject you have never previously considered.
Let people see what you have written.
Let them criticize and bleed all over it.
Whether it is their blood or yours doesn't matter.
Then pick yourself up by the boot straps, nurse your wounds and write again.
Writing serves as food for thought, so the more you write, the more there is to write.
You need not fear ever running out of topics.
Take notice of what catches your eye in the world around you.
Ask yourself why those things catch your eye, and not a million other things there are to notice.
As you look closer, observe how much of life you tend to miss.
Notice the people around you.
Every one of them has a story they are dying to tell.
Most of them have two or three great tales, and aren't even sure which ones are true.
Learn to laugh with them and at yourself.
Go where people talk and listen for the gold.
Capture what it is to be human, taking in the good as well as the bad, the beautiful as well as the ugly.
Have compassion for those around you as well as for yourself.
Explore life, love and happiness.
Take note of the part loneliness and sorrow plays in life.
Observe the meaning you give things.
Learn what it is to be fully alive and alert to life, for only then will you have a story worth telling.
Source...