How Do I Write?

How do I get the pen to write words across the page?

First Comes the Idea

I carry small notebooks with me. I have one in my purse and one in the car. I write any idea down as soon as it occurs to me. Some times I carry index cards in a pocket for the same reason.
Don’t wait for a full blown idea. Any snippet of information, jot it down. It may be a funny phrase, or just a cute story someone told you. A song lyric. An unusual name. WRITE IT DOWN. Don’t worry about how you will use it, yet.
Reading quotes gives me ideas for stories. A quote may remind me of a time in my life when I lived the words in that quote. A quote can give me an idea for a whole story.
Listen to music. Songs inspire me to write. They give me ideas. They help me believe I can write. I write stories in my head as I drive listening to music.

Post it notes help me think!

As soon as possible I transfer my ideas out of my small notebooks and put each snippet of an idea on a post it note.
I arrange these post it notes inside a file folder…just a plain file folder that opens flat.
When I sit down to write without an idea, I open up the file folder and pick a post it note with an idea.
Often if I am writing an article or story I can work in the ideas off several post it notes. That’s why I like post it notes better than outlines. I can just easily move the post its around and group them in different ways.
I don’t wait for the perfect opening or a fabulous ending to come to me, before I begin to write. I usually start to write anywhere in the piece. I almost always start in the middle. A great opening or perfect ending will occur to me as I write, not while I’m staring at the wall.

$Woman\'s hands on a notebook keyboard close up - typing stock photo$

I find that the more I write, the more ideas occur to me. Writing leads to more writing.
Therefore I don’t allow a writer’s block to fester. I just write. If it means I have to write in a different genre for a while that’s OK. If it means I throw out everything I write on a particular day, that’s OK too. But writing leads to writing. I just write.
Most important…I read. Most writers learn to become good writers because they are prolific readers.
I’m involved in two writer’s groups. We listen to each other’s work and make suggestions. We encourage one another and share publishing ideas and experiences.
Get a first draft down. Don’t be too picky. Lots of first drafts sound like sewage.
You can make it sing in your rewrites. But push forward to get the first draft down. Then work your magic.

Happy Writing!