It was an ordinary day. Trying to decide what type of story to write today to share with you. A blank page can be a scary sight when you first begin to write. Where do you start? For whom are you writing? If you are in doubt about your skills as a writer...just begin to write and see what happens. That's how I began a few year ago when I started writing "Extraordinary Stories From An Ordinary Guy." After a story or two I felt like a pro. May not be a pro yet, but I'm having the best time of my life sharing my stories with anyone that will take the time to read them. I usually try to write using one of my experiences as the topic so at least I know a little bit about the topic. I also have read many articles on how to write and how not to write. Not sure if any of the articles rubbed off on me or not. I recently came across an article that was titled "Thoughts on Writing' which I found very informative and helpful. I actually tried some of the ideas when I wrote a few stories. The article was titled "14 thoughts on writing." I couldn't find the author's name, but the thoughts really gave me some ideas on how to compose a story. I have included the "14 thoughts" for you to read and perhaps try for yourself if you have an inkling for writing. They follow:
1. There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen to write.
― William Makepeace Thackeray
2. You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence. It's just so easy to give up!
― Octavia E. Butler
3. If you have a limited amount of time to write, you just sit down and do it. You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.
― Jodi Picoult
4. Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.
— Henry Miller
5. You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page.
— Annie Proulx
6. Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.
— Truman Capote
7. The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.
― Terry Pratchett
8. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.
— Kurt Vonnegut
9. Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.
― Ray Bradbury
10. Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.
— Barbara Kingsolver
11. Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either.
— Meg Cabot
12. Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something — anything — down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft — you just get it down.
— Anne Lamott
13. Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.
— Louis L’Amour
14. And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.
— Sylvia Plath
Well, find anything that might help you become a writer? Give it a try and see what your readers think. Send me an address where I can find your work and I will leave you a comment or two as to what I think. Needless to say...you can leave me a comment as to what you think of my writing. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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