Write Now

There are different ways of preserving and sharing your story. You can choose the one that works for you.

You can try the early method of pounding on a manual Royal using the hunt and peck system. Ernest Hemingway is said to have written his vast body of work using this method.

Stephen King required some apartness and solitude for writing. In the beginning, the only place he could find that atmosphere was on the front porch in summer or in the laundry room in winter. Many of his early efforts, including Carrie, were written in those locations. It is rumored he balanced a legal pad on his knee and wrote in longhand. Perhaps this approach will work for you.

Ernie Pyle, a renowned war correspondent during WWII, wrote his articles on the backs of envelopes, in small hard-backed journals or on any paper available. Unlike Stephen King, Ernie didn’t require silence or solitude. He wrote crouched under trucks and in muddy foxholes to the accompaniment of machine gun fire, flame thrower flashes and bombs bursting nearby. Surely you can find less stressful conditions for your writing.

Modern-day authors simply sit down at the computer and let their thoughts flow from their brains out through their finger tips. Then they hit “print.”

Some lady writers face challenges as they struggle to transfer words from thought to paper. They must be flexible and creative. Diana Gabaldon, with a busy husband, three small children and a multitude of pets, fit writing into a standard wife-and-mother’s life. She could only write when everyone was in bed asleep and the housework was done. So she scheduled the hours between 1:00 am and 4:00 am for writing. This schedule worked well for me for years. You might try it.

Finally, many writers don’t write at all. They dictate into a recording device and someone else types it up. There are advantages to this method. The author needn’t worry about page layout, punctuation or spelling. These responsibilities belong to the transcriber. I’ve longed to adopt this method, hoping to talk a child or grandchild into the role of typist. I’ve had no luck. So I remain chained to my computer, trying to drown out the sound of the TV, the ringing telephone, and the cat who constantly wants in and out.

Believe me, when all else fails, perseverance in the face of difficulty does work.