Writing Tip #1: Start With a Plan of ATTACK!... Then Take a Breath, Grab a Coffee, and Decide What You'll Actually Do

Do I have any technical Writing Workshop teaching credentials that make me specifically 'qualified' to dole out advice? Not so much, no. But what I do have, for whatever it's worth to the faceless blogging and blog-trolling crowd, is 15 years of trial and error in working towards writing for a living. So, for anyone who's desperate enough to pay any attention to this random internet blogger (are you really that desperate?...really?...my condolences), "Writing Tips" will be an oft-updated series of short segments of helpful little things I've learned for myself that just might do the trick for someone else as well. So, here goes - and if anyone has any luck with these, or has any of their own they'd like to share, feel free to drop in on the comment section below!

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We've all been there before, many, many times: you have that moment, that burst of pure, electrifying inspiration, and you make a lunge for your pen-and-paper/laptop/pen-and-nearest-bare-wall because you're going to map out your goals, and you'll stick to them, and you'll write and write and write, and finish that fantastic project you've been trying to finish since forever...

...then by the next afternoon - Day 2 of your Master Strategy (very emphatically capitalized), or maybe by Day 6 or 7 if you're especially determined - the unshakable faith in said Master Strategy has mysteriously dwindled and you forestall filling that poor blank page/screen/wall any further in favor of ordering a pizza and watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother in your pajamas. 

That last part may be a bit more personally specific, but the principal's basically the same: plans may work for a lot of people, but for many others, it seems making out a writing schedule or a cast-iron story outline is like making a New Years resolution to get a gym pass and use it every day or a few days out of every week - it has a tendency to get neglected before you can actually get anywhere with it.

Image courtesy of suphakit73/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So, Tip #1 In a Nutshell: don't prescribe your writing. Whatever your project, whether poetry, essay or fiction (short or long), just set aside enough time to write exactly one sentence/line of poetry every single day to start with. It doesn't matter what it is - a line of dialogue, a random tidbit about a character or back-story, or an idea for a plot twist or something that you haven't even decided where it'll fit in yet. Get that one sentence out every day at minimum (certainly more, if the inspiration strikes), and keep it all collected together. And at the end of every week or two weeks, peruse everything you've written, and put in a little time on organizing what you've got to date to see where you stand. And then keep on adding to it as you go. You'd be amazed at how quickly your thoughts and ideas stack up into a bigger picture!