There are certain items in your writing toolbox that are the basics you need to have to build on so you can communicate to your reader and be believable. What to keep, what to subtract and what to add.

The first thing you want to do is write out a contract for yourself about your desire to begin writing.

Write out a contract on nice paper – not scrap paper. Why a contract? Because it acknowledges the difficult times to come and it puts your intentions in concrete terms. Every time you’re tempted to stray, quit and/or encounter a difficulty, it’s easy to refocus by pulling out that contract and recommitting yourself.  I’d suggest handwriting it out on nice paper and framing it to put someplace where you can view it every day.

It takes this type of intense focus to achieve your dreams.  Call it “My Creative Writing Commitment Contract”

You can do it, you have been talking about it for years, so why not make this the year you actually get started?

Now if you do not have any children in your life-borrow one from a family member or neighbor. Not literally, but talk to the parents and see what appeals to their child and see what you could create. There are many software programs that let a person read a story to a child. See if you might be able to do the same thing. Write then record the story you want to test on the child and let them listen to it. Get the feedback about their response to the story line.

While you might not be interested in childrens writing as a long time project, it can give you some connections to the stories that appealed to you when you were younger and help you unravel what about those stories that you liked that still makes you remember them.  Adding that insight to your writing can change how your reader will connect with you and your stories. Besides it can be fun once in a while to get nostalgic and remember the romance of those old stories and some of the other things that were happening to you and your family during that time that were positive influences on you that still impact you today.

I recently saw a movie and the teacher was contrasting the way fairy tales started and ended and how that often was different than in real life. However, I have had some of those happily ever after results and I’d guess if you really put on your thinking cap you might be able to connect with some of those results too.

Hey, it’s just a bit of time and a few sheets of paper if you are writing manually or a few pages of copy in your word processor. Give it a shot.  It could be great fun and the benefit to your reader will be huge because it makes your writing more believable.

Would you like to know a winning formula on how to make money on the Web from writing articles? Here’s how I do it: I write an article, create 4-5 versions of it, and sell it for use by others in my same profession. In fact, just that one part of my business generates enough income to fully support myself comfortably. Just about anyone in any profession or business can copy this formula.

The idea is you just have to get started and do the writing. If you are struggling, you can get help.  What is the most important is you have to decide and begin to do it.

Opinions are your specific take on a topic so add how you feel to conversations in writing just like you do when you add your idea to a conversation or if someone asks you what you think. There are lots of voice recognition software (s) available if typing or writing is a problem for you to do.

If you need help in deciding what type of writing you want to do, you can get help from my online exercises that give you sample exercises in a number of different types of writing. By doing the exercises you can better understand what type of writing you want to do so you can get started.

Writing is like going to a buffet of food. You like some of the items and others not so much. You choose the ones that you enjoy.

So come on over to the writing buffet and sample the different types or genres (john rahs) and see what suits you. You might be surprised at the types that really appeal to you.

But you won’t know unless you get started.

If you are in a hurry to get started with your writing you can get the exercises all together so you can do them in the book and mark the ones you like the best to help you more quickly get going on that project you already know is what you want to write about. Find the resource here for you if you like being more organized when you start a project.

Either way Just Begin!

You can make up a story about anything or report the facts about what you are seeing  just by looking around you and beginning to make your observations on paper.

Time to get your writing instruments ready to go and start recording all of the happenings around you. There are so many things going on that it would be very difficult not to be able to find something you could write about. Remember, even those authors who now have best sellers started somewhere. Make today your day to begin.

How many times have you heard yourself say or think those words? Or have you seen other activities that are not high on your priority list–they are just time fillers–take over your schedule so the things you really want to do you will put off to doing later.

The problem with procrastination is that you never get around to doing the things you really want to do. Your time is filled up with all of those unimportant activities.

Start today–action is what will get the job done. You have been saying for along time that you want to write. Make today your day to begin.

It takes action, so it is important to get started and do what you can as often as you can. There are many resources in the resource section that you see in the navigation bar. Everything from grammar to editing. There really is no excuse for not getting started now on that writing project you want to do.

I have heard it said that someone who is competing in a race will sometimes trip on a moonbeam at the end of the race and not be the winner. Those invisible moonbeams are everywhere in our lives so watch for them to be sure they do not trip you up on your goal to write.

If you spend ages in the pre-planning and trying to set up perfect conditions before your start a writing project, it’s less and less likely you will be able to create freely and without over thinking everything.

Over thinking will get you into all of those old patterns of

• who do I think I am
• why would anyone read my writing
• what if_________  you probably have a long list like everyone else

and those old patterns will stop you quicker than anything else. DO NOT let that happen to you.

If you do not want to write to make money then just write to get the information out of your head and onto paper so you do not have to keep it in your head. It clutters up your thinking and we get enough interference in your lives so encourage yourself not to let this continue to happen to you.

There are so many resources in that area in the navigation bar above so get started. Get the help you need instead of continuing to think you will get it on your own.  If you are not writing, you are stuck. The resources area will help you get unstuck and get going.

Read the first sentence again!   Capture first, edit later.

Stop trying to be a perfectionist and get going with your writing projects NOW!

It was a beautiful summer day and I was enjoying the day contemplating the wind in the grass while listening to the family laugh while mom finished getting the picnic ready.

This was a happy memory of spending time with the family and the fun we had that day. It would make a great beginning to a story that could be shared with the family.

Memories of events have great value for your documentation of your family history. When you have a memory, start to write about it as if you were still there experiencing it.

When and where might you have a memory from the past that you can begin to write about?

Where this week have you found yourself starting then stopping on a writing goal or project? Did you write a few pages then suddenly get too busy with other things to get back to it or to finish it?  It happens so often with life that we can miss the signs of stopping ourselves just before we make the big breakthroughs.

Things to be alert for:

• If you are writing fiction as you are getting close to the finish are you beginning to feel sadness that you will soon be losing your friends who are the characters in your story?

• Then that pesky little nagging doubt of what if I have spent all of this time and no-one wants to read what I wrote.

• Then you might feel like you might be criticized by anyone who reads your material and you know how much you dislike being criticized.

• Then you might feel like you do not know how you will take it if you are rejected by publishers, readers, friends or family members who you asked to read your material and give you feedback.

Many aspiring authors have a goal to get 100 rejection letters when they first start to write and instead of being discouraged when they arrive, they see it as just another step in getting to the goal of 100. It becomes a positive rather than a negative.

So my question for you is:
How are you ever going to get up to the requisite 100 rejections if you do not apply yourself to finishing what you started to write, selling it yourself or online or submitting manuscripts?

I am sure you know it is a numbers game. If you are not receiving a multitude of rejections, then your writing efforts are producing minimal results.

You could be the next big thing but if nobody is considering your work, how will you ever find out?

Here is the deal–it is so easy to reside in a comfort zone – unwilling to receive feedback that might shatter the dream that you might find it easier to stop going for it than risk going for it and not succeeding.

But it has to be done.

Bumping into a fabulous contact in an elevator who can rocket you to fame and fortune would be nice but happens so infrequently that you must find a different strategy for being discovered.

You have to do what other writers have done since the beginning of communicating with others through writing: self publishing or submitting to publishers,agents and editors continually.

Start–finish–have work reviewed–self-publish or submit to others who might publish–then do it again. The more you repeat, the more you will move toward your dream of becoming an author.