The Secret to Writing...Period

Writing is hard and anyone who tells you differently… well, you get the rest.

I worked on the same novel for ten years. That’s right, ten. And do you want to know why?

Because I believed that if I gave myself to prayer, worship, Bible study etc. God would somehow endue me with magical writing power.

It never happened and after ten years, I knew it wasn't going to.

Don’t get me wrong, I still do all those things. In fact, I don’t tend to start a writing session without prayer, worship, Bible study and even quiet time before the Lord. The truth is those

things not only make me a better writer, but keep me connected with Christ so that I can understand His will for the story as well as my own life... 

Okay, enough with the preaching.

Here’s the point: No matter how deep your walk is with the Lord, no matter how wise you are or how beautifully you can write, you will never get published or finish anything until you sit your buns in that chair and do the grunt work of putting words to page.

Someone once said, “Writing is REWRITING.” Get that? Rewriting and rewriting and rewriting and so on.

Your novel is never going to get done if you wait for the right words to come. Or, it may take you years like it did me.

Here is something to keep in mind:

If you write the words, the right words will follow.

So what's the big secret to writing?

Sit down and write.

So here's your assignment: Turn off all the distractions and just sit down and put words--any words onto paper or the computer screen. I bet if you do, you'll have 500 words by dinner tonight.

At 500 words a day, you'll have a novel written in 200 days. That's not even a year.

Come on. You can do this.

 Please share with us your writing ups and downs by leaving a comment in the box below. It will encourage so many. 

Thank you.

 Ginger R. Takamiya