Manifesto of writing

We put pen to paper and form the words. Sentences. One after another. Paragraphs. Pages. Chapters. Anyone can write. If you’re writing you are a writer. You just have to start and then finish it. But if you start and don’t finish something, then you are a loser. A B C! ALWAYS BE CLOSING! Be a closer! Finish what you’ve started, even if it’s shit so you can move on to better things. Keep writing and reading and rewriting. And never let perfect be the enemy of good enough!

So what do you write about when you have nothing to say? The obvious answer here would be, if you don’t have anything to say don’t say anything at all. But if you’re a writer, this rule doesn’t apply to you and to be honest in your world shouldn’t even exist. Writers block is bullshit, at least that’s something I learnt during my first semester at university. I heard the sentence “Writers block does not exist” from almost every one of my lecturer’s mouths at some point. And one of them even said that writers block is a fancy term made up by wine lovers, so they can drink wine.

So get inspired! Read something, walk your dog (if you don’t have a dog, walk yourself), go to the library, to the cafe, to the supermarket, eavesdrop, be nosy, take notes, keep a journal, drink absinthe or red wine in a bar in Prague or do drugs in Berlin, whatever works for you. Anything can be a story you just have to pull your finger out of your ass and start writing. Put it down on the paper, turn it into a story.

Yes, it’s as easy and hard as it seems. Just. Start. Writing. Pen on paper or fingers on a keyboard, doesn’t matter. Just start writing. Today I opened this blog and thought that I didn’t have anything to write, until I started writing. Write about your first heartbreak, or that girl from high school who promised to marry you, or how you got drunk one time and woke up in a different country. Write about that guy who asked you about your books, or about that cute girl who lives across the street.

If you finished reading this and you still have nothing to write then, I guess that just means you’re a bad writer. And if you don’t write, you’re no writer at all. Hate to break it to you but I would suggest finding another career path and maybe try something else. Maybe history? Or mathematics? Go crazy!