A Forgotten Art

Handwritten Letters.  When was the last time that you wrote a letter to someone?  Not an email but a letter.  And not for business - but for fun.  It seems as if Handwritten Letters are a lost art.

I don’t send nearly as many letters as I once did - but I do still send them.  Sometimes I even write them to myself.   Need Inspiration?  Check out: Fine Stationary, Etsy, and DigiChick.

On Writing

I think - no I know - that a lot of people dream of becoming a writer.  Just look at the number of people who participated in NanoWriMo last year.   What they don’t realize is that professional writing is harder than it looks.  Professional writers set writing schedules, sometimes spend years researching their books, and get very familiar with rejection.  Writing can also be  lonely.

“All writing, fact or fiction, is a solitary craft. “Put yourself on a regular writing schedule, start with a few hundred words each day, avoid distractions, and forget about failure. Don’t worry about getting your book published until after it’s written.”  ~Ronn Ronck

On Becoming A Writer

So I guess the real question is - are writers born or made?  My answer.  Both.  Yes - there are some people who are born with a natural talent for storytelling.  But most would be writers take a small about of natural born talent and mix it with hard work, persistance, and dedication - until a Writer is born.

If you’d like to find out if you have what it takes to be a writer - there is a simple litmus test.  Grab a copy of Dorothea Brande’s Becoming A Writer  and if you can make it past chapter 6 - doing all the exercises along the way - then you might just be a writer yet!

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