*After reading Richard Bausch's Letter To a Young Writer, which consists of ten tips for writing, I have assigned myself the task of writing my own letter to a young writer in the form of blog posts in which I will offer my Ten Commandments of Writing (as I see them now, as a young writer myself).*
2. Write
You must write. The minute, the second, inspiration hits, you need to drop what you're doing—eating, showering, sitting on the can, driving, homework, whatever—get a pen and paper, and write. The minute the fairy dust is sprinkled upon your brain, you must run, as if the world of literature depended on it, to write what these beautiful pixies have to say. Otherwise, you'll never write anything.
Just kidding. Forget inspiration. I used to 'get inspired' at the movies, or while listening to music, or while reading a good book. So I'd do what I thought I'd supposed to do. I'd write in my little notebook. It would undoubtedly just be a reproduction of what had given me this 'inspiration,' and was most certainly not anything worth sharing with anybody. What I thought was inspiration was really just an emotional reaction to the piece I was interacting with. This is a good thing, but it is not at all what a writer needs to 'wait for' in order to get writing.
I am not denying the occurrence of true inspiration. Ask Plato. He'll tell you that artists are possessed when they are creating real works of art. Ask Margaret Atwood. She'll tell you the Margaret Atwood, in the act of creating—sitting at her desk, scratching it out on paper or typing it up, actually writing—is not the Margaret Atwood who does interviews or readings, or who sips her tea. Ask almost any artist. They'll likely tell you that when their best work is produced it is out of some kind of supernatural or unexplainable sort of inspiration. The muse, or whatever.
What I'm saying is that if you wait for this inspiration to hit, you may produce a nice little sonnet here or there, you might sketch out a beautiful vignette sometime or other, but you will never produce as much as you'd like to, and you'll most likely give up on this writing dream.
If you want to be a writer, you must write. You've gotta put aside time to write. I've heard it said that if you are a true writer, you'll automatically make time for your writing. This may be the case; I can feel my whole body starting to itch—beginning in my fingers and earlobes—once a certain amount of time has passed without my being able to write. I will put aside anything in these moments in order to write. I get what they mean. Still, it takes practice. What if you're 'itching' to write, but haven't been inspired. This is when I would get frustrated. I'd be anxious to write, but couldn't get my brain to move its thoughts from my head onto the page.
Write anyway.
If you have no idea what you are going to write, sit down and put your pen on the paper, and write words, or sentences. Write whatever pops into your head.
Stephen King says:
Don't wait for the muse.... This isn't the Ouija board or the spirit-world we're talking about here,
but just another job like laying pipe or driving long-haul trucks. Your job is to make sure the
muse knows where you're going to be every day from nine 'til noon or seven 'til three. If he does
know, I assure you that sooner or later he'll start showing up, chomping his cigar and making his
magic. - On Writing
You may not like his writing, but he is one of the most prolific contemporary writers of our time. And he knows a thing or two about the writing process (One of my commandments should probably be 'Read On Writing.' It'll change your writing life. It did mine for sure). After reading this, I determined that at the Very least, I would go writing once a week. King suggests every day, but with school, two kids, a job, and a wife to schmooze, it's not easy to make time daily.
Still, that once a week is a lot more than I would have if I simply waited for the Muse to inspire me.
If you want to get anywhere with your writing, if you want to improve your writing, you must write, whether the pixie dust is in the air or you feel like you're pushing your pen through molasses with each new word.
It's very simple: Sit down and write.
At least that's what one young writer might think.
2. Write
You must write. The minute, the second, inspiration hits, you need to drop what you're doing—eating, showering, sitting on the can, driving, homework, whatever—get a pen and paper, and write. The minute the fairy dust is sprinkled upon your brain, you must run, as if the world of literature depended on it, to write what these beautiful pixies have to say. Otherwise, you'll never write anything.
Just kidding. Forget inspiration. I used to 'get inspired' at the movies, or while listening to music, or while reading a good book. So I'd do what I thought I'd supposed to do. I'd write in my little notebook. It would undoubtedly just be a reproduction of what had given me this 'inspiration,' and was most certainly not anything worth sharing with anybody. What I thought was inspiration was really just an emotional reaction to the piece I was interacting with. This is a good thing, but it is not at all what a writer needs to 'wait for' in order to get writing.
I am not denying the occurrence of true inspiration. Ask Plato. He'll tell you that artists are possessed when they are creating real works of art. Ask Margaret Atwood. She'll tell you the Margaret Atwood, in the act of creating—sitting at her desk, scratching it out on paper or typing it up, actually writing—is not the Margaret Atwood who does interviews or readings, or who sips her tea. Ask almost any artist. They'll likely tell you that when their best work is produced it is out of some kind of supernatural or unexplainable sort of inspiration. The muse, or whatever.
What I'm saying is that if you wait for this inspiration to hit, you may produce a nice little sonnet here or there, you might sketch out a beautiful vignette sometime or other, but you will never produce as much as you'd like to, and you'll most likely give up on this writing dream.
If you want to be a writer, you must write. You've gotta put aside time to write. I've heard it said that if you are a true writer, you'll automatically make time for your writing. This may be the case; I can feel my whole body starting to itch—beginning in my fingers and earlobes—once a certain amount of time has passed without my being able to write. I will put aside anything in these moments in order to write. I get what they mean. Still, it takes practice. What if you're 'itching' to write, but haven't been inspired. This is when I would get frustrated. I'd be anxious to write, but couldn't get my brain to move its thoughts from my head onto the page.
Write anyway.
If you have no idea what you are going to write, sit down and put your pen on the paper, and write words, or sentences. Write whatever pops into your head.
Stephen King says:
Don't wait for the muse.... This isn't the Ouija board or the spirit-world we're talking about here,
but just another job like laying pipe or driving long-haul trucks. Your job is to make sure the
muse knows where you're going to be every day from nine 'til noon or seven 'til three. If he does
know, I assure you that sooner or later he'll start showing up, chomping his cigar and making his
magic. - On Writing
You may not like his writing, but he is one of the most prolific contemporary writers of our time. And he knows a thing or two about the writing process (One of my commandments should probably be 'Read On Writing.' It'll change your writing life. It did mine for sure). After reading this, I determined that at the Very least, I would go writing once a week. King suggests every day, but with school, two kids, a job, and a wife to schmooze, it's not easy to make time daily.
Still, that once a week is a lot more than I would have if I simply waited for the Muse to inspire me.
If you want to get anywhere with your writing, if you want to improve your writing, you must write, whether the pixie dust is in the air or you feel like you're pushing your pen through molasses with each new word.
It's very simple: Sit down and write.
At least that's what one young writer might think.
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