What makes writers different from other people?

We met an interesting young woman last evening, a school employee who was fascinated with the game we were playing. It is a Scrabble rip off. Charlene invited her to sit with us and we talked a good while. Eventually the conversation turned to my books and I gave her one. She kept exclaiming that she had met a writer. What I didn’t tell her was what a writer had told me once long ago.

He asked if I knew what was different about writers that separates them from people who aren’t writers. Of course, I didn’t, so he told me. He said, “Writers write.” If you want to be a writer, you can. You just need to write. It can be in a diary with a pencil, in an old-fashioned notebook with a pen, on your laptop, or on your phone, but you need to write. What do you write, you ask? Whatever is on your heart, but write. Write something every day. You have a unique view of the world. You are different from everyone else. Write down what you see and what you think about it.

Or make up a story and write it down. Maybe it is a sentence today and 14 paragraphs tomorrow; but write. When you have something written down, then you can worry about editing it and decide whether you want to publish it.