I’ve just finished the preliminary work on a new collaborative resource blog for writers of children’s literature. If you write for kids, please check this out. I’m looking for people who want to contribute articles to the blog. Writer’s guidelines are on the site: Literature For Kids.

There are three things every writer should have:

1. Confidence - Every writer needs confidence. We need to know that our words are worthy and that if we practice writing enough, good things will come of it. A writer’s life is not easy, so it is imperative that a writer has an inner knowledge that hours spent alone, word-crafting, will be hours well-spent. Be assured that your writing is worthwhile so that if you meet nay-sayers along the way, their negativity won’t assail you in the least.

2. Perseverance - Be ready to write, keep writing, and never stop writing. No matter what else life is throwing at you, there’s always time to put your words on paper, or into bits and bytes if that is your choice. Most important, don’t even consider quitting. Each writing project, no matter how disastrous it may seem, is a building-block for your career. Each thing you write is a learning experience. Cherish all your projects, and keep on writing. Quitting is not an option for successful writers. Writing is a way of life, not something you dabble at.

3. A Writer’s Notebook - One thing every writer should have is a writer’s notebook. It doesn’t matter how fancy it is; it just has to be something that works for you. Legal pads are nice. I use a simple notebook I picked up at a variety store. Others will get a bound book or a sketch book. Whatever it is, if it works for you, it is the perfect thing. I tried several types of journals before I figured out what I needed. The notebook is for writing down your writing inspirations. Thoughts are fleeting. Don’t expect to remember everything - it doesn’t work like that. When you get an idea, put it in writing, in a place where you’ll be able to find it again. A writing notebook is perfect for keeping all your writing thoughts in one place, easily accessible. It’s also great for scribbling down bits of description or observations of the world and people around you.

Lately I’ve been running from work to appointments, to errands, to classes. Where has my writing time gone? When I sit at my computer a thousand tasks confront me. Seems like the workload has increased while my time decreased.

The only way to find time to write is to do it. Rather than sitting here today, stressing about how little time I have for sharing my thoughts, I’ve taken decisive action. I wrote the first sentence. And sometimes that’s the hardest part of writing. Once the first sentence is in print, it leads naturally to the next.

Writing flows from thought to thought, from action to reaction. And there is always time for writing, hidden between the many demands of stressful modern living. A few paragraphs here, half a chapter there - and it adds up.

There’s nothing so stressful as not writing. Stop and think about it. If you don’t write, then you’re stressed about wanting to do it and not getting it done. But if you do write, you feel great. You don’t need to pat yourself on the back because the written words did it for you. You want to shout, call out, and tell people, “I wrote something today! I succeeded!”

One of my best tools for finding time to write when it seems like there’s no time at all, is my notebook. I always have some kind of journal notebook going. I can carry the notebook with me anywhere - to the doctor’s office, to the laundromat, or to a picnic table near the river. For years I’ve been writing in them, recording the details of my daily life. And when I have article ideas, I often write them in the notebook first, in longhand. Sometimes it helps to get away from the computer and think about what I really want to say. Then by the time I’m ready to type the article into the computer, I know my angle and can present it with clarity and brevity.

If you’re a busy person, like I am, write when you can. Don’t think about doing it…. just DO it. Write that first sentence. Let words flow out of you. Keep your inspirations flowing. It doesn’t matter if you have five minutes to write, or fifty. When you use your time to write, every minute is a victory.

Ten tips for new writers of any genre:

1. Even though this is the computer age, don’t think writing longhand has gone out of style. It hasn’t. Many of us still find value in the brain-to-pen connection. I’ve learned that writing in a notebook with a good pen stimulates my creativity and intensifies my descriptive abilities.

2. Find time to write every day. Let it be a joyful part of your daily routine. Make it – not a chore – but a much loved experience. Daily writing is the way to improve your writing skills and give life to your talents. It doesn’t matter what you write or how you write – it only matters that you write. Daily writing practice sessions are the skill-building experiences that will help you find your writer’s voice and increase your writing stamina.

3. Watch people, then write about your observations. By observing people and writing down conversations and your impressions, you get ideas for your characters and learn more about how people speak naturally, which is what you’ll need for believable dialog.

4. If you want to be a writer, writing is not just your job, your avocation, or your hobby. Writing is your life. It is that much a part of you. It isn’t what you do; it is who you are. To make it any less is to set yourself up for failure. And if you write with the intention of creating a body of work, some of which may or may not someday sell, you are already a writer. You don’t need to wait for the first sale to refer to yourself as what you are.

5. Writing is fun, and writing is a passion, but that does not mean that we do not struggle. Some days it is hard to know what to write next. If that happens, give yourself permission to write something that does not matter. Give yourself permission to write trash, or to write background stories using your novel characters that you know for certain will never appear in your final draft. You could write conversations with your characters. Or write an argument between two of your characters. And don’t be afraid to write anything. Anything at all. Give yourself permission to write the socially unacceptable, the outrageous, and the bizarre. And when you’re done working out your energy blocks by making a literary mess on your paper, you may find yourself able to return to your work, a freer and happier writer.

6. Believe in yourself. Don’t expect encouragement from others. That’s great if you get it but lots of us find that those closest to us have harsh words to share about our writing and habits. Don’t let that bother you. If you believe in yourself and what you’re doing you don’t need others to hold you up emotionally. You are your own strong person giving yourself all the confidence and sustainable writing stamina that you need to achieve your writing goals.

7. Take a shower. Take a break. Take care of yourself, and take care of your loved ones. The page will wait, and so long as you are dedicated to returning to it daily, your work-in-progress will grow to become the masterpiece you intend it to be.

8. Words are the building blocks of your sentences. Choose them carefully. Sentences are the building blocks of your paragraphs. Construct them well. Paragraphs are the building blocks of your scenes. Spare your poor readers - don’t make them too long. And scenes are the building blocks of your chapters. Write enough of them, and you’ll have a full novel. It is that simple. Just write scene after scene, and keep writing until you’re done. Think of your novel as being a series of easily writable sections, and it will no longer look like an overwhelming scary task.

9. Writing is like a river - the words are ever-flowing. You may have heard of writer’s block, but that only means a writer took his raft out of the river. The solution is to get back into the water. Pick a thought - any thought - and write about it. Instant solution. No more block.

10. Don’t be afraid to share your writing with other writers. Joining a writer’s critique group is a big step, scary for some, but very necessary to development of your career. On the other hand, showing your writing to family members and friends could be the worst thing ever. Family members are especially prone to saying the wrong things, and unwittingly sabotaging our confidence. Other writers understand what you’re going through. Trust them to give you the feedback you really need to hear.

It is easy to be a writer - that’s what some people think. They say, “Oh, you’re lucky. All you have to do is write. And you make millions.”

If only that were true. We writers know that writing is not easy work, but we’re still driven to the task of setting words on paper. But writing is more than that. We must organize those words in such a way that people will want to read them. We must follow certain conventions so editors will want to publish our work. If it were just a matter of putting thousands of words into a manuscript, we’d all be rich. Instead, most of us are not making a dime most of the time.

Writing is an obsession. It is a need – the need for written expression of whatever is in our hearts and minds. It is a way of life. A lifestyle. Something we do because we have to or we won’t be totally happy. You see, at the end of the day when I’m ready for bed, if I can say I wrote an article or finished a chapter in my novel, I’ll be satisfied. I made progress, and was productive for one day.

Creativity manifests in many ways. For writers, it is a matter of formulating sentences that are immediately written down, then tweaked into acceptable forms for publication.

The experience of writing starts when we make the decision to sit at our writing station to work. Whether that is in front of the computer or with a notebook and pen outdoors, our action of getting into the position signals our brain that it is time to write.

Before we start, we need to have a good idea about what we want to write. We need to choose our topic. Then start – not worrying at all about whether others will find the words acceptable. At this point we’re only writing to please ourselves. We’re letting our thoughts flow in whatever direction they will from the starting point to wherever we’re going. Sometimes we have no idea where we’re going but the words flow on anyhow. At other times we’ve mapped out the progress of our story or essay, which often helps if we get stuck along the way. Whichever way we write, it is a simple matter of letting words well up inside our minds, then flow down through our fingers to manifest in pixels or ink in the world of literary achievement.

If you’re having trouble doing this, try meditating for five minutes first, then open your eyes and write whatever gibberish comes to mind. Five minutes of that will get the blockages out of you. Then choose your topic and make a statement. Then prove your statement. Get writing, get the flow started, and don’t look back.

When you’re done, you’ve got a precious thing – a raw manuscript waiting to be molded into whatever you want it to be. Love your manuscript. Let it rest a while. Let your mind rest. Then come back to it and read it over. As you do, your inner editor will manifest, suggesting more words here and corrections there. Follow your guidance from within. And when you’re done with the first read-through, think about what this manuscript really needs to become a document that will be accepted and loved by others. Keep making changes, loving your inner editor, loving your manuscript, and loving the time you spend in this molding, sculpting activity. Your editing sessions should be as enjoyable as the time you spent writing. Every part of this builds toward making your manuscript shine with the attributes you’ve dreamed of for it.

When you’re done it is time to share. Your manuscript wasn’t created for your eyes alone. Pass it on to your critique group, an agent, or an editor. Your time with it is up, for the most part, unless further edits are requested by a publisher. It is time to move on to another project.

It’s hard to get back into fiction writing after being away from it for a while. It takes only a brief lull, a sudden shock, or a simple distraction to get our minds away from the flow of words in our chosen fictional worlds; then we’re lost, somewhere out here in what is called the world of reality. Our families call to us, taking our attention. We’re asked to take part in community projects and events. We devote ourselves to housecleaning or cooking, taking care of the people who mean the most to us. And where has our love for fiction writing gone? To the moon? To the stars, out past the Milky Way?

Getting back into that fictional world we were once busy creating can be difficult, but it must be done. Our novel is important, and that love for fiction writing dwells in our hearts even when we’re running from chore to chore, from errand to errand. We might lay our beloved manuscript aside for a day, a week, or a year, but it never totally leaves us. An unfinished manuscript weighs on our hearts. It nags us: “Finish me. I was good. I’m worth sharing with the world.”

There’s no rest for us until that manuscript receives the love and time it deserves.

The solution is simple and we all know what it is: write a little every day. Daily practice writing is the life bread of a fiction author. It keeps our fingers moving, our imaginations revved up and producing, and our writerly enthusiasm flowing. Daily practice writing is a vital element of what we fiction writers must do. Though the results of our daily practice sessions may become elements of our first drafts, probably they won’t; still the time is never wasted because we learn so much about our capacities when we take time to exercise them daily. We must keep on writing, filling pages with new and voluminous words; and day by day the writing will get easier and we will be more productive and more satisfied with the pieces we produce.

If we’re stuck, we can get un-stuck by writing from the viewpoints of the characters we’ve abandoned. We can write out their oh-so-private diary entries and see what they really think of the world. We can interview our characters and get inside their heads and hearts. We can let them speak to us, or let them write letters to tell us what they want people to know about them, or what secrets they prefer to hide.

Perhaps our writing stalled because we were headed in the wrong direction and sub-consciously knew this. Maybe we need to learn things about our characters that will help us see them in a different light. We must talk to them, and write about them every day. The better we know these characters, the more impact our manuscripts will have on the hearts of our readers.

To renew a stalled manuscript we should review the chapters we’ve already written and meditate on what comes next. We’ll probably be surprised at the promises our manuscripts hold, and amazed at the stories we’ve formulated, thus far. We can let our imaginations have full reign, considering all the possibilities. We may decide that our original plans were the best ones or maybe we’ll come up with something better. Allowing ideas to simmer while we acclimate our senses and emotions to the tenor of the pieces we were writing allows us back into the flow of the thoughts we had then. We can let those manuscripts sink back into our hearts, so when we pick up the writing where we left off, we’ll be writing in the same tone, with the same voice and intensity.

When we approach our characters with respect and consideration, they will come back into our consciousness and inspire us to finish writing their stories. If we want to enshrine our characters in written words, and make these imaginary people a creation of our love for writing, we must give them our thoughts, time, and the power of our love. They will come back to join us, to turn our minds from the outside world of reality to the inner world of creation.