If you aren’t writing everyday, how can you start?

One good idea is to schedule a half-hour every day. Set an alarm. This time is sacrosanct.

Then write. If you don’t know what to write, here are some suggestions:

• What you are thinking about right now
• What is bugging you
• What makes you happy
• A childhood memory that keeps coming up in your life
• The most interesting child you went to school with–get as detailed as you can.

Take a character and put them in situations they are not going to face in your work. Do you know them well enough to know what they do? If not, write till you figure it out.

• How do they react in a traffic jam?
• How do they feel when they learn they are moving?
• What will they do if stuck in an elevator unexpectedly? For 30 minutes? For 5 hours?
• What happens if they get lost?
• What do they do when a good friend purposefully hurts them?

As I told my college students when they said they couldn’t think of anything to write, “Then write that! Over and over until you come up with something else.” That usually works well.