Getting Into the Mindset For Creative Writing

Getting into the mindset before you write is a must. I cannot stress this enough. Let me tell you about the benefits of doing so and then I'll tell you how to.

When you get into the mindset, words easily come to you. It's like lifting the floodgates of a damn. It all pours out with absolutely no effort on your part. You don't feel any pressure because it's easy. You feel relaxed because you know exactly what you want to do. You get the job done much quicker and therefore have much more free time. The list of benefits is endless.

You see, everyone's creative. You already know this. But to be creative you need to have something to create. You need to know what you want to create. Obvious I know, but you'd be surprised at how many people say the words, "I can't create this." when they've nothing to create anything with.

To create anything you need raw materials. You need the building blocks if you like. Your brain can juggle these building blocks around, no problem. But without the building blocks, there's gonna be no creation, right? Right. So...we need building blocks don't we?

Think of your body. Your body is made up of raw materials that are juggled around and put back together in a certain way to produce your body. Where do these raw materials come from? They come from food which you eat, don't they? Well it's similar in this context. To create any article you need the raw materials. Then you need to assimilate or digest the raw materials. Then you need to let your brain juggle them around to create your article.

Now, I hope you can see that without the raw materials there's going to be no article. The only way you'll create an article out of thin air is if you've already studied the subject before. If it's new to you then you must read about it. This is how you get the raw materials to assimilate. By reading.

All you do to get into the mindset then, is take two or three articles of the same nature as what you want to write about from your article collection unit (Lesson three) or from a book or whatever, read them, and then let your mind juggle what you've learnt around so that when it comes out it's in your style.

That's getting into the mindset.

One thing about starting to write is that you come up against a lot of self resistance. It’s something you haven’t done before. It’s new. You’re not sure you can do it. Please believe me when I say that you can easily overcome these obstacles.

To do this let’s look at the obstacles in turn.

It’s something you haven’t done before.

It’s new.

You’re not sure you can do it.

These three obstacles are the only things that are stopping you when you first start to write. There aren’t any more. That’s it. Lock, stock and barrel!

Ask yourself this question: What can I do to overcome all these obstacles?

Now let me answer it for you. The only sure fire way to overcome these obstacles is to actually roll your sleeves up and write! Simple isn’t it?

Once you’ve written something, writing becomes something you have done before. It becomes, maybe not old, but definitely not new. Once you’ve written something, you are sure you can do it, because you just did it!

I know this stuff is quite obvious, but you would be surprised at how many people forget about this fact. All writers have had to get past these obstacles when they first started, and I consider them important enough to mention at this stage of the course. This must be your starting point, just like every other writer who has gone before you.