After writing for fourteen years and after having written fourteen books, the best piece of advice I can give to someone who wants to be a writer is to start writing. Many times, at library talks and book signings and even at casual conversations around town and in bookstores, I talk with people who say to me, "I wanted to be a writer, but I tried it once and it was hard." Well, writing is hard. It requires discipline and dedication. You have to work at it on the days when the words won't come at all, as well as on the days when they flow. And then, when your mastepiece is done, you've only just begun, because then you have to rewrite. If you're afraid of hard work, then you don't want to do it. But if you don't mind doing hard work that puts you in touch with yourself, lets your imagination soar, that can make you feel passionate and creative and incredibly alive, then maybe it's time to try doing that writing you've always longed to do. My mother, who is also a writer, says that the way to get started is "to put your seat on the seat." I can't think of a better way to put it.

If you want to write, you have to be willing to give it some time, large enough blocks of time to let the phone and the kids and the pets and the laundry and your day job drop away and get your creative juices flowing. Plenty of people do their writing in small allotments of time over weeks or months or even years. The important thing is to protect that time and use it for writing. It is far too easy for all of us to let our writing time be bumped for all the other things life wants us to do. Don't let it. Writing, in a way, is a lot like exercise. If you use your writing muscles regularly, they will get stronger and more flexible and work more smoothly and easily.

Writing Exercise Number One:

Chose an interesting spot, it may be a quiet one or it may be a table in a noisy cafe, and write a paragraph or two describing it using only one of your senses, touch, sight, sound or smell. Do the same exercise again using a different sense.

Writing Exercise Number Two:

The next time you go through a check-out line, take a minute after you get in your car, or get home, and describe the cashier. What about the person in front of you in line? The person behind you? Sit somewhere where you can observe the street, and watch people walking. Describe their walks--how they move their feet, how they hold their bodies, how they relate to the street.

One of the key characteristics of a writer is curiosity. I often tell my writing classes that I am giving them a license to be nosy. Discreetly nosy, of course. Perhaps curious is the better word. Some of the writing exercises I assign are designed to “tune-up” the senses and make writers more attuned to the world around them.

More recently, I have begun to advocate the use of index cards. As a writer, you should never go anywhere without them. In your purses, briefcases or pockets, you should always have a small stack of index cards. I’d say the brighter the better. These days you can get jewel tones and neon, as well as the plain white or manila that used to be available.

So, you are wondering, what do I want you to do with these index cards? Well, write things down, of course. We are all in the habit of relying on our memory to recall things when we need them later, but as your mind becomes crowded with story, never mind the details of everyday life, it becomes easier and easier to lose things. Index cards keep that from happening. What you are writing on these cards are all the things you’re training yourself to observe. Snappy bits of dialogue you want to save for a future character. A peculiar incident you saw which made you wonder, “What’s the story behind that….” Characters whose behavior, appearance or clothing makes them stand out and makes you think, “Yes! I want to use that someday.” These are all things we encounter all the time and always believe we’ll remember, then don’t.

I’ve been teaching a writing class called, “I’ve always wanted to write, but…..” which is a five week course of writing exercises and discussion designed to help get over those barriers we all erect for ourselves which keep us from getting from wishing to doing. On day one, I hand out file folders, file tabs, and index cards. We label the folders people, dialogue, and stuff. Stuff can also be called ideas. Then, each week, the students are required to fill out a certain number of index cards, which they bring in and share with the class, and then, hopefully, put in their files. It feels really artificial at first, carrying those silly cards and actually having to fill them out. But its very artificiality makes students pay attention, and learning to pay attention is the purpose of the exercise. Learning to be observant and curious, and saving the fruits of that curiosity, will pay big dividends down the road.

Go try it……