GetYourGoodNews/ToniWilson

If you've ever though you would write the great American <insert literary genre here>,
then this is for you! I've been through it all as a writer, having written since I was five
years old, and what follows are ten easy steps to being a writer.

1. Choose your weapons well. Getting words down is a battle, and the pen and paper you
use are important. Choose ones that will work comfortably and quickly for you. For some it
will be a computer, a giant piece of butcher paper, the sky and sand, pens, crayons, chalk
or pencils. I write by hand in a notebook with a quick writing ball point pen, at least the
very first draft-for the closeness I feel to the work with this method.

2. Develop an addiction now. All the greats had them. Ernest Hemingway was addicted to
alcohol and cats, Sylvia Plath was a huffer, and Charles Dickens was addicted to opium
and writing literature to torture high school students with. I have a few of my own: coffee,
chocolate and cats. A word of advice on addictions-find one that won't kill you.

3. Find a space. Some people can write anywhere. I'm one of those people. I have this
thing called a 'monkey mind'. It's part of my brain that won't leave me alone while writing. I
get distracted by silence so much so that I have to go to a coffeeshop or any other place
there's people who can distract the monkey mind long enough for me to get my writing
done. Just get the space you need.

4. Get a cat. Cats are great. They don't require much work; full food and water dishes and
a clean place to poop is pretty much all they require. They are self cleaning and only
require attention when they need it. They can sleep up to 16 hours a day! While these are
good reasons to get a feline companion, be forewarned, some cats can take offense to
you not paying attention them when they want it and take it out on your writing notebooks,
or worse, your computer cords.

5. Read, read, read. Read your genre. Find out who the greats are and read them. Find out
who the bad ones are, and read them too. This seems counter-intuitive, but many of us
started out by thinking, 'I can write better than that'. The greats remind us what we can do
with our words; the bad ones remind us that we can always be better.

6. Practice, practice, practice. Regardless of how long you've been writing, waiting
around for the muse to strike will not help you. Practice is important. Just write every day.
Even if you don't have something you're currently working on, even if you've got writer's
block, even if you only have five minutes and you really would like to have thirty, write.
This is going to make you a stronger writer, and eventually will make connections in your
brain you didn't realize even existed. Athletes practice and if you have to think of yourself
as verbal gymnast to get you to the page, then do it. You can even wear the leotard if you
want.

7. Know that it's okay to suck. It's going to happen because we are our own worst critic.
And it's okay. You might suck, and if you do, you can get better because you know where
you are weak.

8. Learn the rules. Yep, there's rules. If you are writing a play, learn the structure, learn
the parts. If you are writing fiction, learn about the craft, what characters do what and
when. Know them by heart.

9. Throw out all the rules. Once you've learned the rules, and have been working for
enough time at your writing practice, you can find ways to start bending the rules and
even shattering them. If you know how stories are told, and what their function is, you
can make your work into something unique by just tweaking things.

10. Just do it. Grab a notebook, grab a pen, sit down and write. And stay away from
those who like to wax poetic about the writing life. The writing life is doing. Writing is hard
work, but it's worth it. Don't write unless you can't do anything else. How can you tell?
When you're not writing, do you feel wrong, like there's something missing? That's how
you know, because writing is an addiction as well, but it's a good one.

copyright 2010 Toni Wilson / For GetYourGoodNews.Com

For all the writing she has done in her life, Toni Wilson might well have
come out of the womb clutching a pad of paper and a pen. In her 34 years,
she has been a music journalist, a television host soda jerk, cook, record
store clerk, an actor and a writer. She went to the University of Iowa
where she graduated with a B.A. in theatre arts. There, she discovered
the joy of theatre through No Shame Theatre, 8 X 10: The Ten Minute Play
Festival, and her theatre classes. During her three years at Iowa, she had
three plays performed and two of them published with Heuer Publishing in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She enjoys writing and seeing plays, improvisational
comedy, reading, dancing, crocheting, cat snorgling, and music. She
currently lives in Conway, Arkansas, with the love her life, Bill, and their
three cat-children, Newton, Cheby and Nibbler.