So You Want to be a Writer

Sat Nov 19 2016

THEN WRITE

If you read my blog at all, it's probably because you do want to be a writer. Me too.

Here we are in the middle of NaNoWriMo, the one time of year when at least one little corner of the world celebrates the mad ambitions of people like us.

I, to, want to be a writer. Yet here I sit on day 19 of NaNoWriMo, in a deep, deep hole, 14,000 words behind in my wordcount.

I spend a lot of time on this blog teaching people how to write better, sharing all the tips, strategies, and insights I've learned from years of critiquing manuscripts.

But in the end, writing better doesn't matter unless one first writes.

So today, I am not going to spend hours explaining some subtle nuance of writing craft or plotting or character development. Because the truth is, you can fix all of those things later, and I can blog about them later.

I think I obsess sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) about getting it right the first time. But ultimately, having a clean first draft means nothing unless that first draft is also finished.

So today, all I am going to encourage you to do is write. And I'm off to do the same.