Writers: You don’t have to start writing from scratch.
First time writers are always confused about selecting topics to write. They always wonder what topic to select, how to start writing.
How do I know this?
Because I was once that writer, spending days trying to come up with a topic.
What I didn’t realise back then that I had spent a considerable amount of time on this earth. I had all those experiences to write about. Things that only I had experienced. I had an unfair advantage or maybe everyone does.
Everyone has a story to tell
After writing for more than a decade, I have stopped chasing after topics instead I write what I feel, what I have experienced. Something interesting happened to me in the past in my personal life or at work which can be worth sharing.
Everyone has their own history of upbringing which is different from others. They have their own perceptions about the world around. You might have lived around 20–30 years on earth or even more. What you should know is that you have all those years of experience backing you. Things that you might have done consciously or subconsciously.
Everyone has some kind of unfair advantage over others
If you want to write a book, you don’t have to spend years in isolation looking for ideas. Look into your life. Look around you there are so many stories to be told.
Your story will set you apart
Writing is not reserved for people with literature degrees. The entry barrier to writing in 2019 is very less, you just need a laptop and internet. You already have your story to write about.
Just like any person , I used to believe I cannot write good articles or blogs. Heck, I used to dream about blogging. Guess what! I was wrong.
Back then I was too stubborn to realise that my writing skills are not good. I had a hunger for writing and I started writing about anything in the world.
In college I used to be a journalist for a media platform that covered the startup ecosystem in India. I wrote about 100 articles about entrepreneurs and startups. Every story I published had a unique voice to it. It was after a lot of trial and error did I realize that storytelling is my strength.
Think twice if you are also aligned with the same negative mindset. If you have lived on Earth for 30 years, well you have that 30 years of experience to your name. You have all those years of struggles and failures to your name, which only you have witnessed.
Your voice and story will differentiate you from others.
In the past I made the mistake of chasing after topics to write about, don’t do this. Write what you think or what you dream or your what your learned from your experiences. Writing is all about expressing your thoughts, your opinions, your perceptions.
If you can think, you can definitely write.
Your life is probably full of successes and failures, write about that. I have had plenty of setbacks, ups and downs and I share them on medium regularly.
You may have relationships with other people, that is worth sharing.
Everyone has a different view of the events happening everyday, write what you think. Once you start narrating your thoughts, invariably you will run out of ideas also.
You just read another exciting post from the Book Mechanic: the writer’s source for creating books that work and selling those books once they’re written.
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