Do you want to write? Maybe you want to write for print publications such as magazines or newspapers. Or maybe you have a nagging desire to write a book. You could even self-publish chapters on your own website.
Just one problem…
You’re not writing. You’re just talking about doing so.
What’s stopping you from writing?
Need a hint? Let’s narrow your choices. Lack of time is not stopping you from writing. It’s not a lack of ideas. It’s not no creativity. It’s not bad grammar, punctuation and spelling skills. It’s not even your spouse, significant other or children.
It’s you! It’s the choices you deliberately make daily. It’s how you choose to spend your time each and every day. And no matter how many people are pulling you in different directions each day, ultimately you do make some daily choices about how to spend your time.
Yes, it’s that simple. I’m a professional writer. And the topic of writing has arisen before at networking events or other social or even non-writing work-related occasions. When that happens, there is one comment that tends to be repetitive among people who “say” they want to write. It goes something like this:
“Oh, so you’re a writer. I’d like to write when I retire.”
When I first heard that comment many years ago, it irritated me. Why? First of all, it tends to belittle the field of professional writing. It’s inadvertently suggesting that writing is not a serious profession or endeavor and that it’s something you do when you’re done with your “real” career.
But of course, that’s just subliminal. It’s not really what people are trying to convey with that statement. They’re not purposely trying to be malicious or irritating. In fact, they’re not even thinking about the writer they’re speaking to. They are truly thinking about themselves. On the surface, what they’re saying is just that:
“I’d like to write something—one day”.
It’s sort of this whimsical fairytale people have, perhaps from watching the portrayal of make-believe authors on television. It’s certainly romanticized there. You don’t see the real grunt work of writing for a living or creating some copy—just the highlights or should I say the supposed high life.
You see the people who say that they want to write one day, at retirement, later, etc., are just making excuses (or they just really DON’T want to write but think they do—again that romanticized view of “the writer”). The only thing holding them, or you, back from writing is you.
You do have the time. In fact, you can write for 15 minutes daily and accomplish quite a lot of writing year after year. The ONLY true secret to writing, if you can call it that, is “starting”.
Sure there are things you can learn about the craft along the way that will improve your writing—everything from how to develop interesting topics to how to make your words and sentences flow better. And that learning time can be incorporated into your 15-minute daily writing time span. Of course, if you can devote 30 minutes or even an hour, you’ll write even more articles and master the art of writing faster.
Ultimately, writing is about just starting. It’s not about getting ready to write, waiting until you retire or even about expectations of being published (though you could add the latter in later).
Bottom-line: If you want to write, just do it. Start. Write something. Write anything. Write about something you saw on the way to work today and how that ties into something else in the news. Write about something your child said to you yesterday that made you laugh and why and explain how others might benefit too by this. Research something that you want to know about and then write what you learn.
Those are just some non-fiction article writing ideas. If you want to write fiction, do that. Don’t write paragraphs. Don’t write books. Don’t stop and perfect what you write with each sentence. Just start and keep writing. It’ll only get easier the more you do this. And you’ll never have to fantasize about being a writer “one day” when you have time.