Every. Single. Day.
by Abinadi
I went fishing recently with my good buddy, Isaí. He is a lawyer. But before he went to law school, he studied English. He loved the short story. I personally prefer novels, but there is a lot to be said about the short story. Because of its brevity, it must pack a punch in order to be good. Consequently, a good short story is always well worth the read.Isaí also had a penchant for creative writing. He is pretty good at it, to boot. But ever since he started lawyerin', his time for writing has gone down to zero. While we fished, he told me that he wanted to start writing again, but he was having trouble finding the right thing to write about. He told me that he loved stories that illustrate problems in clever ways, and he wanted to explore that idea but didn't know what problem to tackle. Consequently, he hasn't started.
I thought about it, and I told him that it didn't matter what he wrote about. I said that the important thing was to write a lot about anything. Then, when the big ideas come to him, he'll have the skills and the discipline to execute them. There are three excellent writers who contribute to this blog, all of whom are writing novels. I am sure that is the approach they take to writing: do it often and do it well. I look forward to reading each of their works. And if Isaí will take my advice, I have a feeling he'll be realizing his goal in no time.
If there's a persistent enough gnaw in your friend's brain that bugs him to write, he will, and that's the end of it. Writers may not always publish, but that desire is part of who we are, and it doesn't go away.