“T
he scariest moment is
always just before you
start.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A
Memoir of the Craft
“‘Real’ artists are people who have
learned to create despite their
fears.”
― Julia Cameron, The Miracle of
Morning Pages: Everything You Al-
ways Wanted to Know About the
Most Important Artist's Way Tool
You can’t be a writer if you don’t
write. The phrase came to me in-
tuitively as I was feeling a lot of
self-doubt and frustration at my
lack of “being a writer.” I realized
that I hadn’t been writing, and it
was because I was afraid. I had
all these ideas that I know belong
in the world, but I am my great-
est obstacle. I had been afraid
of opening up about my mental
health and stepping into the shoes
of a full time activist and advocate.
I learned about deeply rooted fears
I had about speaking my truth, be-
ing visible, and making myself ac-
cessible.
to make sure you write when the
moment strikes. I also use Ever-
note, 750words.com, and occa-
sionally Scrivener for larger proj-
ects. If you haven’t heard of these
tools, go look them up! Having
these tools is also imperative for
the next tip.
2. Make a List of Topics Ahead of
Time
It can be difficult going through
magazines, journals, or blogs that
you want to be published in and
coming up with something to write
for them on the fly. I keep a master
spreadsheet in Google Docs of all
the publications I want to write for.
This also helps me stay organized
if I do monthly submissions for
publications every single month. I
keep a list of topics, and categorize
them by which publications they
could appear in. Sometimes my
subjects are incredibly niched, like
sex poetry, and others are broad
like business tips or mental health
topics. I make sure I know when
deadlines are, and every week or
two I dump my writing topics from
the previous tip into my maste
rspreadsheet.
3. Create a Routine
The hardest part of writing is actu-
ally sitting down to do the writing.
Creating a routine was a life chang-
er. Some authors will talk about
writing the first 4 hours of waking
up, but I don’t think that’s neces-
sary. What is necessary is finding
at least 30 minutes to just sit and
write. If you can make that happen
at the same time every day, awe-
some! If not, that’s okay too! I’m a
mom with multiple side hustles,
and morning routines irk me be-
cause I really love sleep. I haven’t
been able to get up earlier than
necessary to have writing time,
but I’ve found that I can usually
carve out 30 minutes to write after
my son gets on the school bus and
before I leave for one of my on-site
projects I’ve been working on.
As a result, I came up with some
handy tips for myself to JUST GET
WRITING. I’m sharing them with
you because I know I’m not the
only writer in the world strug-
gling to share a message the world
needs.
1. Have Accessible Writing Tools
This will look different for every-
one, but the idea is that you’re
always able to write when great
ideas come to you. For me, it
means always carrying a pocket
sized Moleskine cahier, a BIC ball-
point pen, and keeping the Voice
Memo app on my phone’s home
screen. There are so many incred-
ible tools and resources out there
56