My Ongoing Writing Journey

Act I: Introduction

When I was about seven years old, I got my first computer. It was a black, clunky PC, but young me was ecstatic. There were two things I wanted to do with this computer: play The Sims 4 and, of course, write. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, so it’s hard to know exactly when it all started. However, I remember that by the time I was six years old, I knew I wanted to be a writer. I wrote stories about anything and everything, jotting down something whenever inspiration struck. 

It’s hard to pin-point exactly when I started writing. I’ve always had a buzzing imagination, and for me, the way to get it all out was to jot it down in the form of stories. Writer’s block can really get to me sometimes, there’s one quote I stick to (or, rather, try to stick to) when I feel like deleting everything.

“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page”

– jodi Picoult

Even when it feels like everything you’re writing is terrible, it’s important to keep going. This is because after a few hours, or days, or even months, you can come back to it with fresh eyes and maybe even make something out of it. But you can’t do that if you’ve written nothing.

I do admit that once in a while I’ll delete a whole page when I’m really unsatisfied with it. I think that’s okay if you do it too. However, it becomes a problem when you do it the majority of the time and you’re getting no writing done. You have to push through and get something on the page. It can be as small as a few lines, or as big as five, fully fleshed-out paragraphs. Just get something on that page.

Act II: Finding What Works 

My first proper “chapter book” was a whopping six chapters and 12 pages long. This may not sound like a lot but for 12-year-old me, this was an accomplishment. The story was about an alley cat named Nova. 

As I continued to write stories, I got better at writing descriptions. However, describing things other than characters is still an area I’m working to get better at.

One invaluable tip I heard that has stuck with me is that you should describe each sense when setting up a scene: smell, sight, sound, touch, and taste.

Another tip I picked up was that whenever you want to skip writing a paragraph or a scene or anything else, replace it with “tk,” which stands for “to come” (replacing the “c” with a “k”). When you’re ready to go back to those areas, you can search for “tk.”

Something that really gets me motivated to write long stories is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It’s an international writing challenge in which you have to write 50,000 words in the month of November. Tight deadlines like that really motivate me to get words down.

The NaNoWriMo website provides a bunch of options for outline templates. I found these templates very helpful during my personal outline process. The one I used for my fantasy adventure story in 2020 is called The 9-Step-Plot-Dot. I’d recommend looking at each of the templates to see which one works best for you. 

As for me, before starting a big project, I’ll write a rough outline that’s usually about 20 pages. I like writing freely, knowing I have an outline to follow and back me up whenever I get stuck. All that’s left for me is to fill in the cracks.

Act III: Favourite Tools and Resources

So, what am I up to now?

Since I started writing, I’ve only completed two “serious” novels. I wrote both novels during NaNoWriMo 2019 and 2020, which seems to be the only time I can ever complete a novel. 

If I have some extra time, I’ll make book covers for my stories. Though I’ll admit, they’re nothing special. I use Canva to quickly whip something together. I’d recommend trying it out just for the fun of it.

Something else I’ll occasionally do is write a short story. If I really like the story, I’ll post it on my blog. I like having a personal blog because it gives me free reign of my content and is a great way to avoid the high pressure of social media. If you’re interested in getting your stories out, I’d recommend starting a blog. I use Wix for my blog, but there are lots of different hosting websites to choose from.

I hope you learned something new. I wanted to write something that wasn’t a tutorial, but rather how I go about writing. Even if you aren’t a writer, or if you’ve never even tried writing a story, I’d recommend that you start writing something. It doesn’t have to be a story that has a few thousand words. You can make a comic strip, a song, artwork—anything! I think it’s important to work your creative juices, because who knows, what if you create something great?

Here’s a list of websites that I use regularly:

• Power Thesaurus
• Magic Baby Names
• Over 300 Words to Use Instead of Said
• Describing Words
• Reedsy Resources