“Write what you know.”

Interesting advice!

What do you know? In fact, you know a lot more than you think.

If you are writing fiction, you probably know everything you need to know. What you desperately want to do is get started. Writer’s Block?

That’s probably what it looks like. But there really is no “Writer’s Block”. Everything is a function of perspective.

Do you worry about what you write? Do you write a sentence and then rewrite it to make it “perfect”? How do you know when it is “perfect”?

A better question is “How do you suspend disbelief while writing”?

For example, when I prepared this piece, its draft was littered with little red squiggles all over it. Each line looks like your bleeding red ink. And so it was: I don’t care (as I write) if what I have written is spelled correctly. I don’t even care if it doesn’t look good. Those are the steps I’ll take when I get to edit it.

My goal for this draft is to write at least 2,500 words in less than 2 hours. My goal is to do those 2,500 words in less than an hour. But if I can maintain a typing speed of 1,200 words per hour, I can write a 36,000 word story in just under 30 hours. By typing 2 hours a day, that equates to only 15 days of typing!

A novel has about 50,000 words. At 1,200 words per hour, I can write that in just over 40 hours. To write that novel in 30 days, I only have to write less than 2 hours a day!

So what’s stopping me? An idea for a story? What should I write about? How should I write about?

Questions, questions. “Who cares,” I say. “Come on and do it.”

For example, I like to write action stories, sometimes mysteries, and sometimes thrillers.

But where to start?

Here you have an idea. I did an audio test last week to determine if I was a candidate for hearing aids (My wife says loudly and emphatically “Yes!”).

Boring stuff, you say? Let’s explore further. How about this snippet of history?

The hearing test was going well. Eleanor Brightwater had completed the part “When you hear the tone, press the button.” Now she sat quietly with her eyes closed as the audiologist chanted:

Say the word ‘bat’. ” “Bat”.

Say the word, ‘run’. “Rune”.

Say the word, ‘I like’. ” Bike “.

There was a pause.

Then he heard in a softer voice: “Say the word ‘knife’.” Knife “.

“Say the word ‘Murder’.” “Mommy”.

“Say the word ‘kill’.”

His eyes snapped open. Looking through the booth’s bulletproof glass window, the first thing he saw was the audiologist slumped halfway up his chair, an ugly spot on his forehead that extended to a line around his neck, and then to a sea of ​​red that had stained his white lab coat.

The second thing he saw was a grinning apparition with pointed teeth, waving a butcher knife in one hand and strangling a microphone in the other. He giggled maniacally, then stuck out his tattooed tongue.

Eleanor screamed and yanked the headphones off her head. She stumbled against the cabin door, but didn’t move, caught by some heavy object outside.

He pounded on the glass until his fists began to bleed.

Sobbing hysterically, he tried to loosen the cockpit-mounted coal.

The apparition jumped up and down, repeatedly hitting the audiologist and the desk, laughing like a maniac. He yelled at her and hit the cabin window with the knife.

He knew what he wanted to do to her, but he was unable to repel.

[ now… how would you fill in the next paragraph?]

So far, I have written less than 700 words out of just over a total of 1200 words for this article. It took me less than 45 minutes to compose. Another 15 minutes to go back and correct the spelling. I’m not buying my time, but I’m not at a loss for words either. The words are all there, neatly assembled, packaged, and winding as if you were reading them from an unrolling ticker tape.

And you can do this too.

All you have to do is believe that you can do it.

And practice.

And writes.

And write a little more.

But let’s go back to “How do I start?”

Here are some helpful steps:

Step # 1: Take a blank sheet of paper (lined is fine, as you like. Using a computer is optional) and a sharp pencil without an eraser.

Step # 2: Pick up whatever books you have on hand. Open it randomly and select a paragraph.

Step # 3: Start copying that paragraph. Write the first 50 words or so.

Step # 4: close the book. Write a sentence that completes the last thought you copied from the book.

Step # 6: Keep writing, forgetting about misspellings, grammatical constructions, and the other ‘illities’ that make up what other people think of as good prose.

Step # 7: Write for at least 1 hour before stopping.

I know, you’ve started!

Now you can go back and check the spelling of what you typed. Please rate it as you like or throw it all in the recycle bin. The act of writing is more important than what you wrote.

Now let’s say you want to go beyond just starting to copy something. Well, let’s try another story.

Think about your last pleasant vacation. Visualize yourself being there. In your mind’s eye, see the surroundings. Then write a one-sentence description of anything you see.

On my last trip to England, I flew to Heathrow and took the express train to Paddington station.

[I continue the thought thusly… ]

When I got off the train, the first thing that caught my eye was a Paddington Bear store. In the window was a large statue of Mr. Paddington Bear, himself, holding his ever-present suitcase.

“Hello Mr. Bear! Where are you going this time?” Said.

Paddington Bear turned to me and said in a melodious voice: “I’m going to Australia and New Zealand! I have never been there, but I have heard that it is a lovely trip.”

“But you’re from Patagonia,” I told him. “Have you been there?”

“No, not since I left, many years ago,” he replied.

“Don’t you send them posts to let them know what’s going on and where you are?”

Saddened, Paddington looked at his brown parades. “I can’t write,” Paddington Bear said with a sigh. Then he perked up, “But my Author does! I’ll ask him to send some posts. He’s good at that kind of thing. And I know my relatives back home are wondering what has become of me. Thanks for the suggestion!”

Then his shoulders slumped again. “But they can’t read either,” he said as a tear ran down his furry nose, falling onto the base of the marble statue.

“How can it be?” I asked. “After all, someone had to write that note around your neck!”

“You’re right,” and he perked up. “I bet someone down there can do it! Thanks for the suggestion.”

With that, Mr. Paddington Bear stepped off the marble base and disappeared!

So I ask again, “Future novelist, what’s stopping you?”

Sir, take that pen and write !!!!