It was during the first Lockdown that I started to write. My partner, now husband (another Lockdown tale) happened to mention that he was going to write a story. This got me to thinking, I could write a story too. In the end I wrote more than he did, even entered a few competitions. Didn’t win, but this spurred me on.
Perhaps you need to be spurred on too.
To get started, I had to dig deep to find the stifled, creative writing genius within. Then I had to start, quickly realising the genius within was still externally a novice. There are always bumps in the road.
I was on a bumpy road at the beginning of the first Lockdown and my first piece of writing was a personal reflection, like a diary entry or a rant at the situation. New rules ‘to stay home’ meant a lack of income whilst ‘stay safe’ meant lack of purpose. Nobody read that, perhaps for the best. Cathartic maybe but something leading to something more profound. It was a start.
I knew then that if my writing was just to be writing long rants, I’d never get that story out there. Well one worth reading at any rate! To help me, I read a book of short stories, some better than others. So, again I am thinking I can. But where to draw some inspiration? That’s when I looked to writing competitions. In this, I was helped with images to write stories about. Limited word counts honed my writing skills. Start and end sentences also helped me with the creativity I needed.
If you think you want to write that story you can. If you want to write a story, you will. If you think there is a story in you, you must. View our competitions page to get some inspiration.
Happy writing.