The Advice Every Writer Gets

 

Over and over again I have seen a common piece of advice often given to beginning writers. WRITE. You'd think this would be obvious. Isn't that why writers are called writers? Because they write? *gasp* What a breakthrough.

The people/authors/writers that say this though usually elaborate a bit saying: Write every day. At first I took that to be kind of extreme advice. How on earth would I manage to write a finished piece (poem, chapter, short story, etc.) every single day? It seemed at best unrealistic.

Quote by Jack London.

I did come to realise though that perhaps that's not what they meant at all. I had automatically assumed 'Finish' a piece or writing, instead of simply 'Write'.

I found that while the thought of writing and what I should write about is always in the back of my mind, I don't actually write nearly as often as I thought I did. I usually wait until I have some amazing idea.

So while at first I disliked the pressure that came from the fact that so many great writers say I should write everyday, I can now see the value behind such advice. It doesn't matter what it is you write. It could be ten pages of a story you're working on, or it can be a creative bullet point grocery list on a scrap piece of paper. And it doesn't matter if you know each word is junk as you type it. You may end up using it, or it may serve as an example for yourself of what you shouldn't say. Think aloud via paper if you run out of ideas. The point is keep writing. Don't just wait until you feel like it, because that is rarely the case (for me at least). You never know what could spark an idea.