Writing is Magic #BYBin30

The one vice that most writers are susceptible to is procrastination. It is so easy to find many, many things that need to be done and to tell yourself, "I'll sit down to write after I've done..." But this is the path that leads to never finishing your book.

For those of you who are able to set aside specific writing time, then by all means, get your bum in a chair and start writing. Make sure you designate that time for writing though. If you need to check your e-mail or you want to spend some time on Facebook, give yourself set times for doing so. Your best plan is to set aside a set amount of time for writing and when the time is up, then you can go and check your e-mail, browse the internet and chat with friends on Facebook and Twitter. Or set yourself a specific word count to reach for the day, before you start spending some more relaxing Internet time,

Some writers have very little free time, so sitting in a proper chair at a desk and writing is not an option for them. If this is the case for you, you need to use any chance you have to sit down, wherever you are, and write. If you are in your car waiting for your son or daughter to get out of school, grab a notebook or laptop and start writing. You can even dictate your story into your phone if necessary. If you are sitting at the doctor's office waiting to be called in for you appointment, whip out your notebook and start writing. If you are walking the dog, bring your phone with you and dictate your story as you walk. Be creative about how you fit in your daily writing. Maybe dictating while walking your dog is not actually SITTING, but sitting down and getting your bum in a chair is not the only way to write your book. ("Bum" is a British word for "butt," and I think it sounds nicer.)

Some of you may be wondering why getting yourself to sit down and write, or getting yourself to write during those tiny snippets of time when you are out and about, is so difficult to do. You love to write stories, so why do you fight it? Why do you find excuses not to do it? Why do you spend your time doing a variety of different things, all of which can wait, when you should be writing? Isn't writing your calling? Isn't it the one thing that keeps you going? So why do you struggle?

It's because, no matter how much you love to write, no matter how much you feel pulled and prodded by your own subconscious to write your stories, writing is hard. Putting pen to paper or setting your fingers on the keyboard while staring at a blank screen and typing in those words, is difficult. the words must come from deep inside of you in order for them to work. The words might form more easily in your mind than they do on the paper or screen. But the stories you tell are unique, and because of this uniqueness, the good words, the ones that breathe life into a character and transport your readers into another place or another world, those words don't come easily. They have to be played with and prodded, teased and shaped, in order to work.

Writing is art. Despite this, it doesn't matter if you are writing non-fiction, fiction, poetry or anything else, writing is still work. It's work that comes from your heart, from your very soul. Stringing out tiny bits of your soul onto the page for people to read is scary. And because you are sharing bits of your soul with others every time you write, you want to make sure that every word that comes from you is magical.

Of course writing is hard. It's also something more; it's magic.