I think some of the most important keys to being a good writer are being: detail oriented (you notice the little things), someone who is a good reader, as well as someone who is a good listener.
If you’re someone who is always jibber-jabbering (talking) and not taking the time to think things over, essentially mulling over issues by dwelling on the positive and negative aspects of your life, then you’re shutting yourself off to a world of opportunities.
A writer is someone who has an active imagination, someone who gets a whole chapter pounded out, just from a thought that may have sparked and hit them like a bolt of lightening. A writer is essentially someone who is absolutely driven.
When I am in my writing mode, I don’t want anyone or anything to interrupt my train of thought. My husband knows that when I SHUSH him, I am unable to do anything except type away as fast as I can to get the thought documented. The speed at which the thoughts shoot out are usually so fast that I don’t have enough time for my fingertips to get the signal from my brain.
But, there is a immense feeling of satisfaction that washes over me when I know that I’ve written something brilliantly, all the while taking heed that I write in a fashion that will keep the reader enticed, wanting to continue to read on and on, to get to the conclusion of my masterpiece.
I remember when I took a non-fiction writing class in college, and we had assignment after assignment on various subjects, our professor would make three or four people hand out copies of the stories they had written to everyone in class. The students would take it home, critique it and get back to the authors about it, the next time we met.
A line that I’d heard over and over about my writing was that I was a, “Born writer,“ and I was, “a person who knows her way with words”. These comments filled me with immense joy and fueled the passion in me to continue writing. I knew that I was good at it, but the encouragement of my fellow peers was enough to give me enough confidence in myself to continue on the long road ahead.
Writing is my release. It is a way to forget about everything around me, just focusing on being in a time and place that I create, in my own mind, in my own world. A place where there are no brick walls or barriers there to limit my imagination, unless I decide to put one there.
Writing may not be your cup of tea, but if you do some internal searching, I’m sure you’ll find something else that completes you, as much as I feel writing completes me.
