As Imaginarium 2015 draws ever closer, and I know I will once again be on panels and in front of people who don’t know much about writing–only they know they want to try it–I decided maybe now would be a good time to chat about what writing should be for a writer. Consider it advice to the aspiring. It’s not original, but it is good, solid advice.

Writing should be done in your free time – not when you are stressed out, tapped out for time, or otherwise not “there”.

Writing should be something that is done because it is in your soul to do it. Writing should be your soul’s expression of itself.

Writing should be an act that comes from reading. When you read someone else’s work and you get the desire to write, then that is a good thing.

Writing should free you, not give you chains. Write from that place in your spirit that houses truth. Write what you really think. Express those things that motivate and astound you.

Writing should seem scary but send your spirit soaring once you realize that it is simply creation at its best.

Writing should make you see the world at its basic level and then it’s your job to dig even deeper.

And finally, writing should be who you are, not what you do.

PS-note: I never said anything about PUBLISHING or MONEY. Please remember that.