Column #2: WRITE
Want to be a writer?
•Write
•Sounds obvious? You'd be surprised.
•Dreaming is not doing: DO.
•Where to start?
•Decide WHY.
•Flannery O'Connor: "I write to discover what I know."
•You: "I write to [your answer here.]"
•Write because you can't not write; if it's not love, it's not right.
•Be Flannery.
•See the journey as the destination.
•Find your inner [Insert fav author's name here].
•Then find your own literary self.
•Play with words. IS writing play? If not, stop.
•Don't rush to a computer; you'll be there soon enough, long enough. (Trust me.)
•Buy a little bound notebook; savor the move of thought to pen to paper.
•Know the joy of the jot. (See column #3)
•Journal but not obsessively (unless you're in therapy).
•Keep a diary (but with a key).
•Blog (but remember the internet is for everyone forever more).
•Do all 3 if only to learn to grasp the concept of audience.
•Apprentice yourself:
•Take a class.
•Start a writing group.
•Write short pieces; submit.
•Collect rejection slips with gusto.
•Improve. (And you will.)
•Get going putting it all into words.
•So you want to be a writer? There's only one way:
•Write.
Want to be a writer?
•Write
•Sounds obvious? You'd be surprised.
•Dreaming is not doing: DO.
•Where to start?
•Decide WHY.
•Flannery O'Connor: "I write to discover what I know."
•You: "I write to [your answer here.]"
•Write because you can't not write; if it's not love, it's not right.
•Be Flannery.
•See the journey as the destination.
•Find your inner [Insert fav author's name here].
•Then find your own literary self.
•Play with words. IS writing play? If not, stop.
•Don't rush to a computer; you'll be there soon enough, long enough. (Trust me.)
•Buy a little bound notebook; savor the move of thought to pen to paper.
•Know the joy of the jot. (See column #3)
•Journal but not obsessively (unless you're in therapy).
•Keep a diary (but with a key).
•Blog (but remember the internet is for everyone forever more).
•Do all 3 if only to learn to grasp the concept of audience.
•Apprentice yourself:
•Take a class.
•Start a writing group.
•Write short pieces; submit.
•Collect rejection slips with gusto.
•Improve. (And you will.)
•Get going putting it all into words.
•So you want to be a writer? There's only one way:
•Write.