If you want to become a writer, you will have to make a place for writing in your life. That usually means choosing not to do something else. You cannot have it all. Life, like writing, demands choices.
Doing writing practice is like going to the gym: you are going to a particular place to engage in particular activities. When you create a special place in which to do regular writing practice, you encourage yourself to make this practice a part of your life.
The place you make for writing practice does not have to be elaborate: it can be as simple as a notebook or a special folder on your computer.
Take some time now to reflect, on paper: where do you want to do your writing practice? Do you want to sit in a special place, with your favorite mug filled with coffee and your dog at your feet? Do you want to be alone, or with others? Do you want quiet or conversation and music?
Making a mental space for practice is even more important than finding a physical space in which to write. Here's where the practice of freewriting (explained in the lesson How To Be a Writer) can help: you can use it to clear your mind of all your random thoughts and worries, so you can focus on writing. If you like, try this now:
Do ten minutes of freewriting in which you dump onto the page everything you are holding in your mind right now: lists of things to do, worries, random bits of information or thoughts.
At the end of the ten minutes (or longer, if you like), stop, take a few deep breaths, and see if anything surfaces in your mind that you now want to write about. If you want to read through your “clearing a mental space” writing to see if it holds any useful ideas, you can; if you prefer to turn the page —or even to throw away what you just wrote —that's fine, too.
Suggested next lesson: Private Writing, Public Writing
© 2010. All Rights Reserved. Barbara Baig