The First Step In Memoir-Writing Success
Finding Time to Write Works Wonders Where Writing is Concerned
Jun 12, 2009
The dream of writing is one that many people have. It's an ideal, a goal to be reached, but many people fizzle out on their aspirations in the dreaming stage. Writing is a craft, it takes time and care to reach it's maturity, but anyone with the dream and a bit of dedication can do it.
Aspiring writers come in many varieties; formally trained college-educated writers who have dreamed of penning their memoirs their entire lives, septuagenarians looking back on a life's worth of memories with the longing to preserve them in written format and even people with mildly entertaining lives who want to share their adventures with the world. Any type of aspiring writer can find success on the shelves or even just personal success with the completion of a novel or collection of personal essays, but dreaming isn't enough to get the job done.
Dedication to the Craft: Finding Time to Write
Yes, an idea, is essential when aspirations include penning memoirs, but people are always full of ideas--innate stories waiting to take shape on the page. The first step is dedication. Once a person has decided to pen their memoirs, they must dedicate themselves to the lengthy task at hand.
Often life gets in the way of following dreams, but there are always ways around this pesky problem. Figure out when the creative juices are at their peak and then set aside a half hour, hour or a few hours each day to concentrate and make the writing happen.
Whether it means getting up an hour before the day starts and penning a few pages or staying up an hour later than usual to get some writing done, just do it! Once the time is set aside, there is no reason to not use it for penning the next great memoir.
Dedication to the Craft: Avoiding Excuses
Writer's block is another pesky problem, but if every successful writer had waited for inspiration to strike, bookstore shelves would be stocked with tumbleweeds instead of wonderfully crafted stories and sagas! So, just write.
There doesn't need to be a specific plan or model to follow, just put words on paper. More often than not, a story will start to take shape without the writer even noticing. Once there are a few ideas down on paper, maybe even a great rough draft, then the planning and revision processes may begin.
But it's the starting that is the hardest part. If the dream is there, the potential for success is also their, but it is up to the budding writer to make that choice. So, take some time out of the busy day and sit down with a pen and paper or in front of a computer and just write. Finding a written voice will take some time, but writing is essential to the process. Get in creative gear and the memoirs will follow.
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