Writers Write.
You can’t be a writer unless you write. Sounds pretty obvious I know, but writing is a skill – it takes practice. It’s no different than learning to play the piano or learning to figure skate. I think one of the biggest myths about writing is that you need to feel “inspired” to do it. There have been more times than I’d like to admit that I’ve felt anything but “inspired” to write – when there were at least twenty-six other things I need to get done or would rather be doing – when the thought of writing even five words felt daunting. But once I forced myself to sit down at my desk, open the laptop and dig into the script or the manuscript it has, in most instances, led to productive writing. A novelist I know calls it butt in seat. So to all of you uninspired writers out there: put your butt in that seat and write!
Writers Read.
You can’t write unless you read. Or rather, you can’t write well unless you read. There are no exceptions to this rule. Writers read. This is how we find inspiration, how we learn craft, how we learn to navigate the terrain of story telling and how to paint pictures with language. So my advice, for what it’s worth, is read. Read anything that interests you. Don’t worry about the genre or the literary merit, just read!
