How to Be a Writer Part 6

Expanding as a writer isn’t always easy. Here are some tips to help it happen.

1. Use The Library

If there is a library near you, make some use of it. For a writer, walking into a library can be like finding a gold mine: all these ideas, all these possibilities! Quite apart from the range of books on offer and what they might contain, there’s the whole idea of a library — a physical place where the community has bothered to collect hardback knowledge about Life as well as all kinds of stories and pictures about it. There are whole worlds there outside the normal scope of the writer’s mind. Dipping in and out of this facility can open your eyes to a wide range of activities and notions that you wouldn’t normally encounter even by browsing the web in your own home.

2. Establish Some Favourite Places

Arguably, places are more important to writers than to many others. Many associate particular localities with emotions and ideas. Work out a few favourite spots — and then get as much access as you can to those spots. This can be a calming influence. These can range from a corner of a room to a place in the garden to a local wood — anywhere safe will do. Physical space can act to ‘anchor’ a writer in a sometimes turbulent world.

3. Spend Time With Others

That means not just sitting in the same room or even being on the same holiday with them, but actually giving up time to listen to them and see the world from their point of view. Spending dedicated time with others is a treasure and a privilege rather than a chore. Your imagination will thrive.

4. Keep A Journal

Start keeping a journal as soon as you can. Those moments which, as they happen you think ‘I don’t need to write that down, I’ll never forget it’ are in fact quickly swept aside by more such moments. Keep some kind of a record. Notes, words, pictures, anything that can be recorded, will all become treasures later in life. Apart from their future nostalgic value, keeping a simple journal can act as a way of stabilising a writer’s view of the world and straightening out memories.