Writing, like most things, gets easier with practice. If your goal is to write more, then all you need to do is write more. Yeah, I know that’s simpler said than done–who has the time, the skills, the inspiration to write as much as they want?
You do, for one. I know you don’t have the ability to write everything you want at any given time, but you do have the power to write sometimes. Those times are often defined by you. What are you choosing to do with your time? Choose writing every now and then…it’ll become a habit if you choose it often enough.
Listen, I know–I know–you’re busy, you’re stressed, you have only time confetti to work with. You have other priorities: family, work, putting dinner on the table or getting to the gym. These are all very important things to me, too.
When I started this school year, I said to myself, Oh well, there goes my writing time. With school, planning, grading, meetings, family time, fitness, and countless other obligations on the calendar, there just wasn’t time for writing.
So I put it off. I delayed personal deadlines. I convinced myself that I didn’t have time to write, and it was true…because I didn’t take time to write.
Then one day I decided to start this website. I had big dreams but modest expectations: I wanted to create a public space that asserts “I am a writer!” I wanted to give people a fair sampling of my writing, so they can judge for themselves if any of it speaks to them. I told myself I’d post at least twice a week–a big commitment of my minimal free time.
Honestly, I was trying to be realistic; anything more than twice a week would have been too much pressure.
But I was also a bit fearful. If I spent time writing blog posts all of a sudden, wouldn’t that cut into the writing I’m supposed to be doing? Was I creating an excuse for why I wasn’t making progress with my “work in progress“?
Well, here we are a month later, and I’m posting on this blog at least twice a week. What’s more significant to me, though, is that I’m also adding to my upcoming book on Wattpad, creating an ongoing series for Kindle Vella, exchanging lengthy stories with an old friend, and scribbling more and more ideas down for books I plan to write in the future.
In short, the more I write, the more time I find to write. It’s like digging for oil: the more you dig, the more you can find, but you don’t get any if you aren’t trying. Of course, like oil there’s a limited supply of writing inside you, but it’s vastly more than you can ever use up–so keep digging!
“What if I don’t know what to write about?” A reasonable question. My response? Who says you have to write about anything in particular?
In life, many of the barriers we face are only there because we put them there. As writers, we tell ourselves “we have to write X amount each day or we’re not really writers.” We insist “our writing has to be better than the last time every time.” We fool ourselves into thinking “if I sit down to write, I have to produce greatness, some deep insight into humanity, an unprecedented world-changing masterpiece!” Nobody’s demanding that of us except ourselves (note: if someone IS demanding those things of you, you can ignore them too).
Focus on the real goal here: WRITING. That’s as simple as putting thoughts on paper. Did you ever have a bad thought? Some string of total nonsense? An idea that seemed great at the moment, but unraveled into garbage once you really examined it? Yeah, it’s happened to me too. But think of it this way: You gotta get the junk out of the way so you can move on to the next thing, which may very well be good…possibly even great.
No matter what the field is, do you know the difference between the wannabes and the winners? Wannabes think about succeeding, while the winners try to succeed. No one is successful without trying. Sure, people who try sometimes fail to become winners–I tried to play guitar a few times, but I’m not Jimi Hendrix now. So you wanted to be a winner but you failed? Here’s all you need to do to succeed: Fail more than the winners.
Bottom line: You don’t need permission to start writing something today. You are allowed to write for as long as you can, about whatever you like, for whatever purpose moves you. It can be short, it can be terrible, it can go right in the trash the moment after you write it. Picasso didn’t frame every sketch he ever made. Allow yourself to write, and more writing will follow.
You don’t need anyone to tell you to go ahead and just write–but if you want someone to say it, just to feel better about it, here you go:
YOU’RE FREE. JUST WRITE!
M. J. Lau 