The best advice I have gotten so far on my writing journey is, “If you write, you are a writer.” Before I started writing last year as a way to combat my pandemic anxiety, I had not written fiction since before medical school. It had been way too long, and I forgot how fun it is. It’s enjoyable to see words down on a page, to see with word counts and pages completed that I accomplished something real that day.
Using my creativity, too, make my brain come alive again. I notice things more when I walk my dog in the evenings. I smell my neighbors’ flowers and etch their exact color into my memory. I note changes to the neighborhood, counting types of cars and different versions of fences and lawns.
My internet search history has also gotten a lot more interesting. I’ve done deep dives into the Golden Age of piracy, mountaineering, ballroom dance videos, field medicine, Regency-era New York law and forensics, and more. For lack of a better term, it’s been a lot of fun.
I’ve read more poetry these past two years than I’ve ever read before, found new authors whose works I admire, and even studied classic literature (well, okay, I have a full-time demanding day job and two young kids, so I listen to the Classical Stuff You Should Know podcast).
Get writing. Put words on a page, whether it’s an outline, snippets, dialogue that won’t get out of your mind. See where it takes you, and let me know how it’s going for you.
Ta!
Nat.
P.S. What do you think of this logo? Leave me a comment and let me know.
