People tell me that they’d love to write a
book, that they’ve always dreamed of writing, that others say they should write
a book … and so I say, “Do it!”
And the standard reply? “Oh, yes, I’d love
to but I just don’t have the time right now – writing a book takes a lot of
time.”
Yes, writing a book does take a lot of time
but so does watching your favourite TV soap! However, like watching that
important soap, you don’t have to do it all today, this week, this month. You
just do a little every day. If you really want to write something – a poem, an
article, a book – you have to drop the self-defeating excuses, turn up at the
page and start writing.
My second book, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, was written over breakfast, every
morning, for a year. A half hour’s writing of 500-1,000 words, every day,
produced enough words for two novels – in one year.
Everyone’s busy and we all have the perfect
excuses for not doing what we’d really love to do. Why? Because having a
project completed then sets us up for fear of failure and/or fear of success.
Most people would rather avoid those fears by retreating behind a myriad of
inexcusable excuses. However, wouldn’t you rather end your life with memories
rather than dreams?
So, think about all the little spaces in
your life – over breakfast, while commuting, in cafés, watching TV – which you
can turn into sacred writing spaces. Oh, but you’ll then come up with that
other Grand Excuse – “I want to write but I don’t know what to write about.”
You will never know what to write about till you start writing. Don’t wait for
the writing – it’s waiting for you.
If you have a desire to write, you know
exactly what to write about – the what
will reveal itself when you turn up at the blank page (or blank computer
screen) and start writing … “I don’t know
what to write but I’ve started writing and, though I have no clue why I’m here
doing this I have, at least, turned up at the page and my pen’s moving
(keyboard’s clacking) and making word-marks on the blank paper/screen and
nothing’s coming to me yet but I’m going to keep writing because Philip said if
I did, the what, the subject would come to me …” Just keep your pen moving,
your keyboard busy, and, at the start, it could be complete drivel, utter
senseless rubbish. You might write about the horrible/beautiful weather, your
uncomfortable writing chair, your slow computer, your cranky father, your last
holiday, your biggest dream, your worst moment … it doesn’t matter what you
write but keep doing it and – on this rock I stand – the ideas will come. You
see, there is a theory that thoughts create words. It’s wrong – words create
thoughts which create words which create thoughts which create words …
So, chuck out your excuses, substitute
waste spaces for write spaces and turn up at the page. You’ll be amazed at what
you unleash when you turn up and write something, then something else, then
something else …
