One of the reasons I started this blog was because I wanted to make writing a habit. It is easy to think of ourselves as a passionate writer but when it comes to making it into a practice we tend to fall behind. For me, the main reason I hesitate is because I don’t think I am good enough at it.
Once the pen hits the paper or the fingers hit the keyboard, I start second guessing, we all do. Especially when we know someone else might read it. We think, “Oh, what if there are errors”, or “Gosh, that sounds so stupid when read aloud.”, and its fine to think so. What does it matter what others think?
The very first key to write is to start writing. Here are the 5 reasons I believe you should start writing:
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Observation
We tend to go through life so quickly that often we forget to live it. Writing gives us a chance to not only take some time out for ourselves but to actually see what is happening around us.
When we write, be it fiction or non-fiction we build a world from the very beginning. A world with characters. Characters who live, breathe, and think for themselves. Any good character cannot be built without observation. A character either stems from our imaginations or its someone we know. To bring them to life, we must know everything about them, and that we can do through observations.
Questions like: “What do they fear?”, “Do they like their coffee black or with milk?”, “Do they have a pet cat?”, make our characters tick.
Writing allows us to immerse ourselves into our surroundings through observations. Write to observe and observe to write.
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Reflection
One of the main benefits
of writing is reflecting because half of writing is reflecting. We spend a good chunk of time thinking, “What do I write next?”, “How do I get my character to do this?”.
Once you start writing you will notice you think far more on the words you say as well as put into paper because you’ll notice how much more important, they become.
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Empathy
Not everything is black and white. Writing builds empathy. The best place we notice this is when we have a character who’s the bad guy, but we actually understand why he’s portrayed this way.
When we place a villain in our story, he is not an actual villain unless we know what made him this way. By the time we put it all into place, we start to understand and even to an extent sympathize with him. This tends to bleed into our own lives as we start to consider the actions of the people around us. We start to listen more. Observe more.
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Vocabulary
It is well known, to write more, we need to read more. So, the biggest gift of writing is, reading and through it an immensely improved vocabulary. Books are truly a gift to mankind. Centuries of knowledge and information all bound into books that we can read at any time. What more do we need?
Writing truly enriches our imaginations. You get to visit places you have never been to. You learn words you have never heard.
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Focus
This will be the best thing we get by writing, getting something done. Tuning out all the distractions and focusing on putting your thoughts to paper. There are numerous times when I have started something but have gotten distracted by something else.
So, sitting down and getting this article to you is on its own an achievement. The sound of the keyboard’s keys allows me to feel content about the fact that, “Yes, I am actually accomplishing this!”.
