“If you want to be a writer, write. Write and write and write. If you stop, start again. Save everything that you write. If you feel blocked, write through it until you feel your creative juices flowing again. Write. Writing is what makes you a writer, nothing more and nothing less.” ~Anne Rice
I needed this quote today because I have been horribly slacking in writing/editing/just everything pertaining to my work. I had a week where I wasn’t feeling good and I thought something was going on in terms of my health but I was wrong and it turned out I was just tired. I had a couple days where I wasn’t using my sleep apnea machine and I paid for it. It was also cold last week. Cold weather for me equals stay in bed weather.
In terms of breaking through the block, I’ve started journaling every morning. I’m doing the Morning Pages. I know there’s a book about it but I saw it mentioned on a few YouTube videos. It’s basically 3 pages of “stream of consciousness” writing every morning before you settle in to work. It helps wake up your mind and get things going so you’re more focused and ready to go. I had a few things set up in my journal for May so I only did 2 pages but that’s going to change tomorrow. My journal is a kind of bullet journal/diary hybrid. I’ll talk more about that in a post tomorrow and I plan to do some videos about it.
One of the things I see in the writing community is that a lot of “aspiring writers” are just that. They have an idea but they don’t put the work into it. It’s hard. And, sometimes people get discouraged when something is hard and decide it’s not worth the effort. But, if you don’t keep going, if you don’t keep writing, you will never truly be able to call yourself a writer. And, this isn’t limited to novels. Bloggers are writers. Anyone who writes for a newspaper or magazine. Ghostwriters. They all write. And they started by doing something in their routine where they wrote consistently. They tweaked and developed their style and learned more about the craft to keep going and make a career. No one is going to hand you a book contract for an idea. No one is going to buy an idea. Readers want something tangible they can have in their hands and read, whether that’s in a physical book or on your favorite eReader, in a magazine, blog, whatever. If you want to truly call yourself a writer, you have to actually get some writing done.
I’m off to do just that. Have a great week.