January 21, 2019: Unto everything, there is a season…and just like that, this season became my writing harvest. After not writing last weekend, I spent a good deal of BIC this past week and churned out some good work. Recently someone told me they are interested in writing and really wanted to pursue it. I asked what stage is your manuscript? She replied, “Oh, I haven’t written anything yet, it’s all in my head.” I replied, “Then you are not a writer…you’re a thinker.” Folks, get it on paper. In any format. In any length. In any stage. Remember the first rule of writing: You need a beginning, a middle, and an end. Start with an outline and build from there. On book three of the Baker Manor Series, it’s in the roughest draft form--basically, three sentences. I have a beginning, a middle (barely) and an ending that consists of seven words. Even that early stage is an outline. It’s minimal, I agree, but I know how the story begins, where it will go, and the big mind-blowing, I didn’t see that coming, ending. All that in three sentences. By the time I finish it, the word count will be closer to eighty thousand, but by that simple outline, I have a manuscript in the making. Whatever works for you, whether it is recording the outline on your phone, jotting down a rough outline with pen and ink, or (like me) creating a Word document, begin with action, end each chapter with a cliff-hanger, and by the end of the story, tell the reader who-what-where-when-and-why. Then, you’ll be a writer!