Writing Tips: Sit Your Butt Down and Begin

Writing is easy. Putting thought down on paper is easy. Combining sentences together to form a complete thought is easy. Sitting down and getting started -- well, that's the hard part.

There are so many things that can distract a writer from actually sitting down to write. Dishes, laundry, mowing the yard, feeding the goats, going to work, changing the oil in the car, Facebook, Twitter, The Oprah Show. But in the end, the one thing all great writers have in common is they know how to sit their butts down in a chair and begin!

So, let me explain how this works.

First, find a chair that you'd never be able to fall asleep in. Pull it up to your desk or table, wherever you have all your writing paraphernalia, then sit down...on your butt...in the chair. Don't hesitate. Do it quickly before you change your mind.

Next, turn on your computer, sharpen your pencil, dip your pen into the inkwell (whatever floats your boat), and Don't Get Up! No, the kids are doing fine. Don't Get Up! Yes, laundry needs to be done but it will wait. Don't Get Up! You haven't changed the oil in your truck for six months, so it can wait another day. Don't Get Up!

Drive all those negative I-Should-Be-Doing-The-Taxes thoughts out of your brain and Don't Get Up!

Okay, you've planted your butt in a chair, you've made up your mind not to get up, so now comes the next hard part. Begin.

Begin is another word for start. Get started. It doesn't matter if it's good, bad or ugly, just get those fingers moving, start putting words in those empty spaces, string those words into sentences, and let your thoughts ooze out onto the paper or computer screen. (Have a rag handy to clean up any ooze messes.)

Start. Don't stop. Don't stop until you're finished. Don't stop until you're dying of thirst and HAVE to get up for water. Don't stop unless you have to pee or it looks like you might miss the next episode of "Lost."

And that's how you become a writer.

You might never be a great writer; you might never sell any books; you might never have one of your stories turned into a made-for-TV Hallmark Movie of the Week -- but you will be writing.

And if you're writing, you can proudly count yourself as a writer.

Now, what are you waiting for? Sit your butt down, and Begin!