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A writer writes. Right? Sounds obvious, but that's really fundamental to getting started as a writer. The single most important "rule" for writers is, you must apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair and write. So often it's the what of writing that gets in the way. Write anything. Shopping lists, letters, journal entries, essays, memoirs.

Julia Cameron, in her wonderful book, The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, suggests these two writing exercises: Morning pages, three pages of writing, performed daily, on any topic, and artist's date, a weekly block of two hours spent observing, experiencing, and sensing. While she uses these to combat writer's block and get the creative juices flowing, they are also useful for beginning writers by providing a starting point. No one is going to read your morning pages, so grab a pen and pad and get started.

Make a date with yourself, a regular appointment every week for time to concentrate on your writing. If you need to get away from home, find a quiet corner at the local library, bookstore or coffee shop and write. Don't worry about inspiration. Morning pages and writer's dates will help your creativity, but the real secret is planning.

If you know what you want or need to work on before you sit down to work, writer's block won't be a problem. There are plenty of times when I don't want to be creative, I could just as easily fall asleep in front of the computer. Those are the times when I work on something that doesn't demand a lot of original thinking, bright-eyed dialogue or plotting. Fortunately for writers, the initial work of getting something on paper or the screen isn't the largest bulk of our work. Rewriting occupies much more time than creating the original work. I'm a much better editor than a writer. On days when I have trouble stringing two words together to make a sentence, I concentrate on revising what I've already written. I keep scraps of paper all over my desk and bulletin board so that I can pick up on a project in mid-stream according to what I feel like working on each day.

Think of writing as a job. Develop a professional attitude toward writing. Treat it as you would any paying job, even though a "salary" may be years away. Try to schedule some regular time to writing. I changed my "other job" work schedule so that I have Mondays off. That is my writing day and I do not use it for any other appointments. When I give to writing the leftovers of time, something always interferes and I end up with no time to write. I consider Mondays sacred and don't give up that time very easily. Obviously this won't work for everyone, but make some consistently regular time within your schedule and commit to it. Remember, you can never "find" time, you have to make it. If becoming a writer is a priority in your life, you will schedule time for writing, starting today (or tomorrow at the latest!)

Somewhere along the way in your journey to becomign a writer, you'll begin to identify yourself to others as a writer. You might simply tell people you are a writer, have business cards made, list "writing" as your occupation on IRS forms. But, deep down inside, you will begin to think of yourself as a writer. How does that change your self-image? How does that change your life?

Learn more about this author, Joyce Good Henderson.
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