Writers Write

"If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow." - Louis L’Amour

In response to my post yesterday about using prompts to get the juices flowing, Judy said: I was watching an old movie the other day about a writer and he happened to mention to another character that he "didn't feel like writing." She asked him, "What would my poor cow do if I didn't "feel" like milking her? Or how would the crops get picked if I didn't "feel" like picking them?" When he told her that was "different," she asked, "Why? Don't you make your living from writing? Isn't it your business?"

Isn't that the truth? The funny thing is, after feeling all excited for breaking through the wall on Saturday, I did nothing yesterday. Nothing. And the strangest thing about that is that I didn't even realize that I had written nothing until I checked my email at night, right before bed, and saw an email from the group where I post daily writing totals.

I'd even managed to forget about posting to that group. My brain had been wiped clean.

I'm trying not to feel too guilty about it, after all, it was a Sunday, I was mostly hanging out with the family and quite busy... but still, I've set a daily writing goal and that is EVERY day. It's far too easy to let a day, and then another and another go by. Once you get out of the habit of writing, it's terrifically difficult to get back in.

That's one of the reasons I try to update my blog every day, even when I don't have much to say. It reminds me to write. Although, apparently that didn't help me yesterday!

Just remember: Writers Write.

Period. If you say you're a writer or you blab about writing a novel or a story, but you don't actually write... you're a talker. Not a writer.

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A quick note: I removed the writing links from my blog template and moved them to my website under "links for writers" (I added a link to the blog sidebar that takes you there, too) because I'm going to expand them regularly. I have a couple hundred sites bookmarked, so will try to include them all as time allows. If you have any amazing sites you'd like to share (Tori, I added Once Written. Thanks!) please feel free to leave them in the comments or send me an email.