Getting Started

Getting Started

More than once in my life I have been trapped like a rabbit caught in the lights of a truck hurtling down the highway towards me, only to find that really all I had to do was make a small movement and I my perspective changed.

Life is like this, and I believe that writing is as well.

We all have imagination and free choice – this is what makes us all capable of being writers, okay granted some will be better than others, but, this in itself is the key to being a writer.

Writing is about a passion. The way you express that passion is by pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard or really by whatever medium you may chose as your particular tool of trade.

Too often, we tend to associate writing with a book containing 300 hundred pages, but this is not the case. Every day we are writers, you may write a note to your children in the morning, you may type a poem for your lover or send a letter to a business associate. All are forms of writing.

Okay, you know this and you want to write something more substantial. What do you do?

I previously talked about the passion of writing and this is really all you need to start writing anything from Poetry to Screenplays – the rest can be learned.

For example my passion is books and writing I read a lot and I love to write so I write about the books that I have read.

Your very first step is to read. Particularly read about what you love to read, if it’s the newspaper then read that, if it’s a Harry Potter book then read that and if its poetry then read that. Settle down in your favourite chair and enjoy every moment of it. By doing this you are already training your brain how to write, and the best thing is, your loving it.

Nothing to hard so far, you have started reading, the next thing to do is to take a class.

Forget what you think you know, enrol in that beginner’s class and get started; it will do the following for you:

Show you the technical aspects of plot structuring
Help you to decide what type of writer you want to be
Give you a chance to write and have your first formal readers audience
Most of all it will give you direction and motivation

When I first started to write I thought that I knew where and how, surely I just picked up a pen and got on with it – not the case. Take a class and then get on with it. There are numerous classes offered by reputable writers who have achieved their own writing goals. They to have a passion and a desire to write and they want to share that with others and you will find they are more than helpful.

The single most important question you need to answer in your pursuit of a writing career is;

Why do you want to write?

It is important to be honest with yourself in respect of this, and while I would never want you to think anything else but to shoot for the stars, you should also recognise some fundamental truths:

There are thousands upon thousands of writers, and not all of them successfully published
Writing is not the most lucrative career in the world, I know writers who have worked for the last twenty years and published in excess of 15 books, but who have only averaged $ 10,000 return pa.
Writing will not make you a better person
Professional writing is a business in its own right

I started this article talking about passion, a true writer is passionate about his or her craft and like any passion the reason you do it is because you love it, not for any other reason.

Good luck with your writing career and please feel free to email me with any questions or feedback you may have, I am more than interested in hearing your own writer’s stories and tips.