Well lets see. I would say at first…

     …do not listen to anything negative from anyone about how there is no money in it and how it’s a pipe dream and how its not realistic. Because if you listen to it and take it to heart too much, then you will never do it. Doing that will serve no good to the writer because it does not give back anything good to the person who wants to puruse a career as a writer. Hearing the negative from those with whom you may care for the most by no means makes the negative more correct. So all in all, don’t listen and follow what you think is right.

From here, we go with loving literature, poetry, writing, and the written word itself. Love it with abandon. Love it like a crazy person. Love it like you have never loved anything in your life and dammit let yourself love it. Love it everyday you live and with every breathe your draw to survive.

Do these things and the process of writing will be easier I promise you.

      This is true because you will know that words are a living and breathing thing with a soul and have a will all of their own. The page upon which they are written is a living thing as well and these words, and the page itself can do things that nothing else on this planet can or ever will be able to do. It is the writer/author who wields the power to make everything and anything happen.

Understand that it fulfills the hunger in the soul and the being has on a level that nothing else will. You need to know that no matter what, you can do it. That no matter who you are, you should never stop. Not unless you truly feel it is not for you. Barring that you will also want to learn and understand the modes and tones of language. The mechanics of things. Terms and phraseology, not only grammar, but methods of speech, the tone of places, settings and moods of things. Learn this in everything you see and hear and come across. Become an observer. Listen and feed yourself on experiences and what your senses take in.

Why is it scary to be a writer?

     Hmm…I would have to say for me it is not a scary thing at all. It’s amazing, wonderful, and truly fantastic. For me, I have always known that this is what I am and what I am to do – even who I am. However, to answer the question, I guess it could be scary because of how fragile it can be. Waiting to hear back from a publisher, hoping to get the publisher you want. What will the editors say? What happens if I really do get my shot with the publisher I want or a big name publisher?

It’s been said that it is the hardest thing in the world to be given the very thing you want. Balancing things between submissions, deadlines, editors, and publisher can be a job as well. To me, though, all these things are normal, and one just has to weather them as best they can.  A good temperament is a wonderful, wonderful trait to develop if one does not have it. Mainly because one cannot get mad, upset, or flip out on or at your publisher. Nor can you do it to those who read, edit, or buy your books. To do these things and keep doing them will ruin one’s chances at a writing career.

Now dealing with writer’s block.

     Me personally, I would say do anything you can think of to break the writer’s block. Sometimes it can take just waiting to have it drift away just as it came. Other times one may need to do silly things , or change the pace of one’s life, or change the scenery. Dealing with one’s emotional state can be just the thing as well. Can also be as simple as walking through some fear. One thing to keep in mind, is that writer’s block will not irreparably harm one’s ability to write. At least it shouldn’t.

Another good tactic to defeating or overcoming “the block” is to do something entirely unrelated. As silly as it can sound and maybe a little vulgar, taking a trip to the bathroom and letting things just come is a great way to get sometimes incredible ideas. I dunno what it is about the bathroom that makes it so conducive to damn great ideas. But it happens. That is the hilarious thing. All in all, make whatever activity you choose to do to break writer’s block something fun or at least have some kind of element of fun to it.

How I started writing? 

     I listened to the story “Masque of The Red Death” By Edgar Allen Poe. I sat there in spell bound wonderment at Poe’s style and enchantment of writing. The passion of the written word was not just known to me. It was a living thing to crawled inside of me and woke up something that had always been there. Just waiting to no longer remain dormant.

This was when I was 6 years old, and I immediately began to piece myself together as a writer. Steering myself toward my north of what my life was to be. Along the way I developed my own style and expression. After that I started writing and seeking out publishers. This is what I love most in the world, and I don’t want to do anything else. I can’t do anything else.