I Want to Be a Writer...

It Doesn’t Always Start at the Computer

My six year hiatus wasn’t planned, my writer’s mind simply went on an unauthorized vacation, perhaps hijacked by life events that were more desperate for attention. Family and friends kept asking when I would start to write again, but I knew my mind wasn’t ready. In the humble opinion of this author, creativity can’t be rushed or forced. I always know when it’s time to sit down at the computer or begin to make notes outlining characters, scenes, and plots. The ideas create themselves and drag me to the computer. Sometimes they flow, at other times they trickle, and when writer’s block creeps in, it’s time to work on a different section or take a break.

Many years ago I was fortunate enough to be invited to a seminar especially for aspiring women writers. The keynote speaker asked a question of the audience. “How many of you have paper in crazy places all over your house? Not just in your purse or next to your bed, I mean in the bathroom, the kitchen, and in the car. Do you keep sticky notes everywhere? How many of you does this describe?” At this point most of the attendees raised their hand. The speaker continued. “If you have used the paper in all of these locations and several others, please keep your hands in the air.” As we all looked around the room, only five of the forty guests still had their hand up. “You are the writers,” she concluded. And I was one of them.

When it’s time to write, I’ll find myself dictating a note into my cell phone at a stop light. I have also been guilty of using napkins as paper if I wasn’t driving. I wake up in the middle of the night and start to scribble in a bedside notebook. I stop vacuuming to frantically look for a pen and an envelope to record an idea before it goes back into hiding in the recesses of my mind. Concepts, vocabulary, and all parts of the story will suddenly click when I’m not consciously working on the project then I’m scrambling for the nearest pencil and scrap of paper.

In order to be a writer you have to be confident and fearless because the perfect adjective or conclusion that has been creating a mental block for days is likely to reveal itself at a moment when it will be the most embarrassing to record it. Capture it anyway, embrace the fact that you just wrote a sentence on a piece of cardboard with a crayon and carry on.