Writing Gets Easier with Time

Posted by Jennifer Jensen Oct 15, 2007

I remember how I struggled with the first assignment for the Institute of Children’s Literature course. I had the story in my head, but it was difficult to get it onto paper. Intimidating. Painstaking. Gut-wrenching.

I still feel that way sometimes, but in general, it’s so much easier now. Some of that is learning to turn off the internal editor for the rough draft, to not worry about the perfect opening until I have the gist of the story down.

Some of it, though, is simply having more experience writing. The more stories I write, the easier it gets to put on paper the movie that’s playing in my head. The more I write for deadlines and word-length limitations, the easier it is to write tight. The 200-plus newspaper articles I wrote over a three-year period helped my fiction writing more than I ever expected.

So if you’re a relative beginner, write all you can. Write a paragraph of description every day. Write 1,500 word stories. Write 500 word journal entries with a purpose. Keep writing and soon you’ll be looking back, amazed at how far you’ve come.