Two Lessons for a Writer

My Creative Writing professor gave two parting lessons to those who wish to become published writers.

Write for an hour each day. Thinking about writing isn't writing. Talking about writing isn't writing. Only writing is writing. Schedule a time everyday were you simply write. Block out all distractions. Find a secluded spot and drop your phone in a potted plant on your way there (you can pick it up on the way back). It's best if you go to a spot where it's impossible to have internet access. If your spot does have internet access, turn it off. Be protective of your writing time. Let no one and nothing interfere. Schedule the time. Be protective of it. Be religious about it.

Give yourself permission to write bad. When you have an hour of time sitting in front of your computer, you have to allow yourself to write horribly. Elsewise nothing would be written. You'd think of something to write but you wouldn't write it because it isn't great. You don't like it. But you have to allow yourself to actually write it down. At the end of the hour you may have an hour's worth of junk. You hit the "Control" and "A" keys on your keyboard and then press delete. It just means you'll write better tomorrow. Nothing is perfect the first time. The second time. The third. Give yourself permission to write horrid. You just need to write.