If I never laid my fingers on the keys of a computer, or never put pen to paper to express my thoughts, I could not call myself a writer, could I? A writer writes. I write my best when I write every day. Writers who are serious about their craft do not let life get in the way. We guard and stick to our writing schedules. Most of us keep calendars to mark doctor appointments, meetings, etc. How about writing? If the time is not set aside it is very likely to slip away. We can’t let that happen. I try to write every day, or at least go over what I have written the day before. To keep going, we all need nourishment, so does our writing. We need to stay connected. We need to keep our characters and story alive by breathing life into them each day.
Some writers say they need to wait for inspiration – and that is fine, so long as they make sure they are inspired every day. Some writers have rituals they perform before sitting down to write; whether it is getting a cup of coffee, wrapping up in a favorite blanket or going for a walk first. After discovering what works for us, it’s time to settle down to the business of writing. Some people believe that stories come to me while walking on the beach. That might work for some, but not for me. My thoughts crystallize at the keyboard. What I get mostly on my walks is exercise and a chance to listen to books on tape. Sure I get ideas while out on the ocean front, thoughts that often interfere with my listening skills, but that’s why there is a rewind option. For me the way I can most effectively breathe life into my characters is at the keyboard. If I take the wrong direction, which I usually only discover after I’ve written the scene, there is always the delete key. Even when I’ve written a terrific scene, if it doesn’t move the story it has got to go. I write to discover what I am thinking—the story my characters want to tell. Until I have written a scene, I have nothing to improve on—no ideas to expand—nothing that carries me to the next scene.
Writing is a practice. Nobody gets it right the first time. The idea is to sit down and write and write and write until we know what we want to say, and then write that. For every ten pages we write, we may only get one or two paragraphs of useable material, but that’s ok. If we hadn’t written those ten pages, we wouldn’t have those useable paragraphs. I don’t know of a single writer who sits down and immediately writes gold every day. We have to be willing to fail, to write garbage, to throw away drafts which express only surface thoughts and dig down to what is real. Sometimes, our first instinct is real, and then our brain kicks in and starts to edit it and rework it. We must guard against covering up the real emotion. Contrived, commercialized, politically correct statements seldom stir our readers. We should not be afraid to express what is real—what is below the surface. Who will it hurt? We are certainly not going to send our first draft out to anyone, so why not let go and let every thought, every feeling come out? We may sit down to write one thing and discover that what we really want to write is something entirely different. Unless under contract to write a particular piece, why not push the original idea aside for now and write what our brain or heart is telling us? There is usually a reason why we write what we write. Our brains and hearts are truly amazing; learn to trust them more. Some writers find that stream of consciousness writing is a wonderful way to get started if blocked, or even if they aren’t. We need to let our minds take a stroll, or even a sprint down a new pathway and just go along for the ride; we may be surprised where it leads us.
There is no one right way to write. If we were to ask a dozen writers about their process, we would get a dozen different answers. It doesn’t matter what our process is, so long as we do it consistently. We don’t want to waste too much time in inactive thought. We need to be willing to write poorly and get it out. A poorly written story can be turned into gold though diligent rewriting. Take action. Be real. Get to the truth, drop the filters, and write from your heart. Just do it.
January 10th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
You’re absolutely write. Writing should have a schedule or one should write everyday. I am in such a job i cannot write daily but i think daily. If something strikes i jot down on my cell phone and later expand the same. I always travel with a note book with me and whenever i find time i write on train and in rest room.
After my return to home, i sat down without fail at my desk and the romance of keyboard and fingers start. The idea takes shape and i finish a chapter. I never care about errors while writing the first draft as i keep that job for second draft. That the Ms word marks i check and march forward.
This summarizes writing succinctly and thanks for the post.
January 12th, 2011 at 11:01 am
* I love your words “We need to stay connected. We need to keep our characters and story alive by breathing life into them each day.”
I agree with you. We need to keep our story alive by breathing life each day.
Thank you for your good words.
* http://www.mufillyou.com .
January 14th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Sudama, it sounds like you have a good routine in place. You should always go with what works for you. I’m very glad you are enjoying my posts.
January 29th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
For many years since I discovered this God given gift. Something am passionate about developing at any cost now. Talking about writing. I may not have reached out to many people, as would love. I haven’t come up with a writing schedule. Neither have I published any book. This is what, am glad for in your blog Darlene. Learning so much from you already. Any activity people plan for, is bound to succeed. As failing to plan is planning to fail. I therefore concur with your sentiments in this aspect. Thank you.
There are many reasons that have held me back. I want to overcome them, as they have not done me any good. In our country, Kenya- publishing is not very easy. It involves very long and bureaucratic processes known to a select few. Another reason, such creativity is not developed or recognized by our education system. We concentrate so much on what is generally accepted as to enable one put food on the table. Take for example myself that had to take up a career that, is acceptable to my parents too. Hence my entry into accounting career. The statement, ‘that if you want to hide something from Kenyans, write it in a book’. In the recent past, this has been true. The trend is only starting to change as a result of tremendous success from some Kenyan writers internationally. Some of whom have interacted with are like Prof. Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and Ken Walibora. We are having local success stories too, like Mwalimu(meaning teacher in Swahili language) Wallah Bin Walllah and Dr. Hamisi Babusa. There are many other reasons, to share in another forum. However, the personal drive to write (echoing you, to just do it!.) is what we need for success in writing.
Best regards,
Tony, Thika- Kenya.
January 31st, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Tony, Thank you so much for sharing with me. I hope you find some inspiration in my blog and that you continue to write and strive for your dream. Best of luck to you!