― John Wooden
There is real truth in those words. Something we all need to be aware of, all the time.
It’s easy enough to begin to slide along any given path and assume you’ve made it. For writers, this is never a good choice. Writing is a special talent, which requires special attention.
Most everyone can write, and certainly everyone has something to say (write). Writes who plan to make a living from their writing, generally don’t start out with that thought foremost in their minds. They start writing because they have a desire to be heard, to share what they are thinking, or something they’ve observed which gave them insight into a profound truth.
I’m not sure exactly why I started writing. I know I started writing along time ago. I probably thought I had something to share, or believed I had a story to tell. Being from a long line of storytellers, I thought my story was important, because it contained some truth, or at the very least it was entertaining.
I know listening to or reading a great story–you know the kind–the ones that take you away, take you into the story world, is the kind of story I want to tell .
So how do writers make the kind of story you want to stay in forever, the kind of story that makes you sad when it’s over, the kind of story you want to read as soon as you’ve turned the last page and read, “the end”?
Those writers are the craftsmen of true fiction. They are the writers who spend their time showing what a story can be. Those are the writers who dedicate themselves to the craft, who continuously invest in themselves and in their chosen craft by learning, and listening to what others have to say.