A Writer Writes

A writer writes.  That’s what he does.  That may seem obvious, but if I don’t write, then I’m not a writer.  A writer writes when he’s tired.  He writes when he’s sick.  He writes when he’s busy and he’s barely had a moment to himself all day and certainly not enough time with his Muse.  He writes wherever he can and whenever he gets the chance. This doesn’t mean that there’s no schedule – this is in addition to his writing schedule. 

My own schedule has me up between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m.  I handwrite three pages.  Then, if time permits, I write a blog.  If not , I write a blog later in the day or in the evening after work.  I try to write a blog every day.  Sometimes I write two and, occasionally, three blogs each day.  This will be my 558^th blog.  If they were typed single space, they would each be about one to one-and-a-half pages each.  That means I’ve written over 700 pages.  I’ve also handwritten about 300 pages. That’s about 1,000 pages of writing in less than a year and a half. 

Where does all this come from?  How do I know what to write about?  Sometimes my Muse tells me immediately.  Sometimes she gives me ideas.  Once she said to me, “Life doesn’t have to be complicated.”   another time she said to me, “Treat everyone you meet today as you would treat me.”  another time she said, “You only have one problem:  you haven’t reached your goal yet.”  My Muse is brilliant and all I do is write her ideas.

At other times I have to sit and work and then something comes.  Sometimes there’s a long and tortuous delay and I just have to write until she speaks to me.  That can be hard because, until I get something, I wonder if I have run out of things to write.

Even if I do, I will keep writing anyway.  A writer writes   That is all I have to say tonight.  I will Get Started and Keep Going tomorrow.  And I’ll write more.  Because that’s what a writer does.