Hours passed with great food, better conversation and…calm. There was laughter, lots of talking (mostly by me because a blather on and on and on…), and more laughter. Then the conversation turned to writing and the fear of it. That I know well… through myself and the hundreds of folks I have taught to write.

So the question comes:

What are the 5 things you tell folks that want to write?

I didn’t think; I just said:

1) Write

2) Read and write some more… as a matter of fact, read 100 books that have the style or the subject matter you want to write and write between reading sessions.

3) Damn your fear, Damn what you think people are going to think, damn if no one else reads what you have to say… write what you want…write what is true for you.

4) If you are still afraid of your writing, write 500 words every week (without editing) and put it away. On the fifth week, after that week’s 500 words, read the 500 words from the first week. You will be amazed….

5) There is an audience for every style of writing. And there will be for yours. But not if you don’t write.

Now that I’m thinking about it (and writing this week’s 500 words), I should have said one other thing:

That you also need a place of one’s own. A place of peace and that fills you with love and nurturing. For most folks, that is in one’s head. Here it surrounds everything and fills all that come. That is a blessing and I look forward reading the words that SeulaVista inspires.