Five-Minute-A-Day Writing Plan

Writers Write

by

Valerie Allen

Writers write. This is a simple truth, but until you actually put words onto paper, you are not a writer.

You may think, ponder, read, study, research, interview, or discuss. Writers do all of these things. They are necessary, but not sufficient to be a writer. Writers must write.

It’s likely you do write every day, but each of these missives takes you in a different writing direction.

All writing does one thing: it forces you to put your thoughts into words. If you have a story to tell, fiction, non-fiction or in poetic form, you must transform your thoughts into words and then put them onto paper. When you do this, you are truly a writer.

Five-Minutes-A-Day Writing Plan

Are you willing to invest five minutes a day to achieve your writing goals? Establish your plan to write continuously for five minutes every day. Whether with pen and paper or keyboard and computer, set aside five minutes of uninterrupted writing time just for you.

Let your mind wander as your fingers do the writing. This is a time to ramble on and be creative—no editing allowed.

At first, you may rant about the laundry, an unfinished project, family issues, the price of gas, or the state of world. Keep writing. If words don’t come, doodle. Keep the pen to the paper or fingers to the keyboard. Stay physically connected to your writing.

Make lists of things to do, names of old friends, places you’ve lived, cars you’ve had, pets you’ve owned, foods you hate. Just keep writing. Describe things around you, write about a favorite place, tell about a person you love, an event you enjoyed, a time of introspection, a connection with your spiritual self. Keep writing.

As you do this daily five minutes of continuous writing, you’ll find relief from mundane and querulous day-to-day life events. The creative part of your brain will free your muse. You will truly be a writer.

# # #

Valerie Allen, psychologist, authors, playwright, and speaker, writes fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and children's books. She can be reached at VAllenWriter@cs.com or ValerieAllenWriter.com

-----
 Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The multi award-winning second edition of The Frugal Editor; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .