Perhaps writing is something you have always enjoyed since you were a child, or maybe you were drawn to writing in college. Possibly you took to writing in those spare moments during your hectic adult life when family and work demanded most of your time. On the other hand, writing may have entered your life in those “twilight years” when the free time you always yearned for finally became a reality.

In any event, the driving force that gets those fingers typing on the keyboard or scrawling with the point of pencil or pen is an overwhelming desire to transform into tangible form the spoken or unspoken word. That's what you feel. That's the craving you have. That's what makes you whole and satisfied at the end of the day. Writing is simply something you must do and that is why you want to write.

Telling It Like It Is

There are many genres for writers to work within but they all fall into two basic categories — fiction and nonfiction. While this may seem straightforward enough, you'll see the differences are not often clear. However, one thing all writing has in common is that it serves as an outlet for your passion to share your thoughts, observations, and feelings. One way this has been accomplished is through the telling of tales and narration of stories and when you get right down to it, that's what writing is all about — telling a “story” that may or may not be true. And sometimes, the “best” stories are the “true” ones!

If you have the desire to tell a story, whether it's to an audience or to just one person, then you are ready to write. The story can be about someone you know personally or an historical figure. It can be about building a boat and sailing it in the bay. It can be about the time you ran a marathon and another runner stopped to extend a hand when you tripped. Whatever the subject, even if it's true, it can still be a story.

You Can Be Creative Writing Nonfiction

Doesn't being creative mean making something up? Isn't writing novels, short stories, and poems an act of creativity while writing articles, biographies, and essays is just reporting the facts? How can you possibly satisfy your creative bent by writing nonfiction? Shouldn't you choose fiction instead?

Absolutely not! Try this exercise. Turn your computer on and take a look at that blank screen. Or, open the drawer where you keep your journal or writing pad and pick up a pen or pencil. Now, write something or strike those keys on the keyboard. Take a look at that screen or sheet of paper and you'll see that it's no longer blank. Now, while all it may be is a random assortment of scribbles or letters that make no sense whatsoever, the fact is, there is now something where once there was nothing and that is what “creating” is all about.

So, you can satisfy your desire to be creative by writing nonfiction and we'll explore this in much more detail in Chapter 19 when dealing with “creative nonfiction.” The real question is, as with all creative outlets — is it any good? Which is what most of this book is about — helping you channel your creative juices into something you can be pleased with and proud of.