WRITE MUCH!?

There is just no way around it. If you want to be a writer, really want to be a writer, feel a yearning in your belly to be a writer — then you must write.

Writing when you want to, and especially when 'inspiration strikes ' is easy. Writing, on a consistent schedule, when you don't feel like it, and without inspiration — is gutsy. For being a writer to be real, you need to make it real. You must write.

You must write — on a regular work schedule. Even while you still have your day job, you'll need to flex your writing muscles. Don't feel like it? Got a spouse? Got kids? Dinner doesn't just make itself (at your place, either)? Too tired at the end of the day? Too bad.

If being a writer is more than a daydream, you must write!

GOOD HABITS OF A WRITER (RANDOM ORDER)

• Do Morning Pages.
• Write every day or at least every 'work' day
• Choose your 'writing tIme' — Proclaim it. Protect it.
• Develop your own set of Writer's Commandments — Personal vows about your commitments as a writer.
• Keep a pocket notebook, index cards or memos in a handheld digital recorder to jot writing ideas; character names; fabulous phrases; ideas for getting unstuck…
• Hang out with other writers and wouldbe writers
• Find ways to make writing part of your daily life — write love notes, poetry, greeting cards, thank you letters, bulletins; flyers, want ads,
  captions, acceptance speeches…
• Date all of your writing — practice exercises, morning pages, journals… to track your progress
• Decide what writer's 'bible' (dictionary) you'll use for all your writing (Keeping your spelling consistent is professional)
• Get physical — any kind of intentional exercise is good. Going outside, to walk, bike, skip …, is not only valuable for general health and well-being. writing often involves long hours of sitting. Oxygen is body and brain juice.
• Read. It doesn't much matter what or who. Every kind, style, level and genre has rewards. Obviously, the better the writing the higher the bar.
• Cross-fertalize. Cultivate or at least dabble in other art forms. Painting, dancing, playing with clay, cake decorating … will provide necessary 'white space' (in the mind) and oodles of inspiration.
• Recognize stuck. If you can't get past it relatively easily, don't fight it. Fretting, grumbling, pacing and staring with frustration at the project, usually makes it worse. Develop and refer to a cache of how to get unstuck.