It’s a busy day today, so finding time to write is a challenge. It’s not always like this. There are days when I have the time and I just sit and stare at a blank screen, wishing that writing was easier. Thank you, I say to myself, I know that all I have to do is start writing. It sounds laughably easy, and yet I sit there as the seconds turn to minutes.
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Just start writing. I often start with a bit about what I am doing, or more precisely what I was doing just before I started writing. For instance, today I was thinking that I should write something, then I remembered the advice I just gave someone about starting. That turned into a thought about writing about writing. Here I am!
Not everything you write has to be brilliant. Again it’s much repeated on these pages, and yet it is still worth repeating. Because, I for one, really need to hear it again. The aim is to be a writer first, then I can work on becoming a successful writer. I must warn you, I haven’t defined success yet.
Do a writing exercise. I found Tim Clare’s “100 day writing challenge” a great help. The 25 minutes or so that each episode takes is manageable and the 10 minutes of writing is the cherry on the top. https://soundcloud.com/timclare/sets/100-day-writing-challenge
So there are my three tips on starting writing. Today it helped me. So hopefully it will help you. And if you have a favourite writing exercise, please leave a comment.
