Reasons start writing...Again.

So here's the great dream: Write a book.

Easily said.  "I'm going to write a book." ....Yelp, that rolled off the tongue nicely, right?

You gather your paper and the coolest pencil you own, you write down your ideas, you may even jot down a few notes that you've pulled together from some reoccurring dreams or life experiences you know will make great fodder for a story. Then you outline your first few chapters or maybe the whole kit-and-caboodle if you're really feeling your story.

You're on your way!!

Now you start profiling your characters. You google some snazzy pictures of girls with blond hair and a scar above her left eye, or guys wearing kilts (strictly research of course), and put them into folders so you can really see the person who's in your mind's eye. Then you decide if she's a bitch with a soft spot for squirrels or a blind detective that can drive a 18 wheeler like nobodies business (Ha! Maybe I should write that last one!). You hammer out all the good and bad of your character's personality so you know how he or she will handle anything your twisted writer's mind can throw at him.

Oh yea! Now it's time for the big show!

You write. And write. And write some more. Things are flowing good. You're testing the boundaries of your characters in this world that you created for them. Knocking back the cups of coffee in that niffty "writer" mug you picked up just for the occasion. Then BAM! You hit a wall. It may be that you re-read a chapter then afterwords thought, "This is pure ol' crap!" or maybe that plot twist you threw in there only seems to make sense in your mind not on paper.

You lay down the pen and stare at your work like you don't know it any more. "Who are you you strange beast? You are not who I was looking to create!" You toss the manuscript in a drawer or hide the file away on your computer and run away screaming and feeling a bit like Dr. Frankenstein after his creation turned against him.

Now what? Do you give up?

NO!

"Why not", you ask.

Well, here's my list of 8 reasons to pick that pen up again.

1. IT'S YOUR DREAM! -Do you really need more reason than this?
2. The world needs to hear your voice.  Your creative work is something that can only come from you. Don't deny the world a peak into a place no one will ever see if you give up.
3. Because it's not easy. Okay, I know that this one may seem like a great reason not to write but there are few dreams that are easier to give up on than writing a novel. But if you stick it through, like so few do, you'll reach a goal that you will be proud of for the rest of your life. 
4. You've already put so much thought and time into it.
5. Every messed up plot twist, weak character, or strange tangent you've let the story get on can be fix. That's what the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th drafts are for.
6. Because you've already bragged to your friends that you're writing a book. Come on! You know you don't want to be the butt of your office jerk's joke, "So Bob, how's that novel going?"  *Snicker, Snort*.... (SCREW YOU, JERK!)
7. You wake up every day thinking about writing this story. It's eating at you. It's begging you to fill the rest of its pages with beautiful words and fancy punctuation. All you have to do is pick up that pen.
8. IT'S YOUR DREAM!!-Okay, I know this is a repeat but it's worth it. And YOU'RE WORTH IT!

You've got this! Now get it down on paper and out into to world.

Happy writing,

Wenona