For 5+ years I’ve had an itch for which I haven’t quite found whatever combination of dedication, inspiration, and motivation it will take to relieve myself. The itch of writing. Specifically, a deep seated desire to manifest my story ideas into fully realized books. To be honest I can’t even recall the original reason(s) I decided this was something I wanted. Now I just want.

From time to time, this desire within me grows until it manifests into motivated action. Not deliberate. Not purposeful. But motivated. That is, a nearly uncontrollable knee jerk reaction which results from a spike in my desire to attain a specific outcome.

On the rarest of occassions this might get me to actually write a couple of paragraphs. However, more often than not, I instead spend my time reading internet forums and watching YouTube videos about the topic of writing. In this time I think what I’m really looking for is a clear step by step guide on how to become a good writer. Unfortunately, it seems that no such thing exists. In fact, I’ve found almost the exact opposite.

Something along the lines of: “Writing is hard. You can’t be taught how to do it, you just have to start doing it.”

It’s message I’ve seen time and time again, from random redditors to some of the most prolific authors in the world. They all say this. And while it may be true (my own feeble attempts confirm this), it is not particularly helpful for people like me who can just barely glue five words together into a cohesive, let alone meaningful, sentence.

And so, I’ve decided I’m going start taking purposeful action to learn how to become a better writer. What do I mean by purposeful action? Well, I’m glad you didn’t ask.

Purposeful action would be action taken not out of desire, but deliberation, choice, and with honest intentions. For me, this means writing badly, with terrible, cringe-worthy, disgusting, vile, crude, vomit inducing sentences, and then choosing to keep doing that.

However, I’m also going to continue studying about the topic of writing because I believe there is value to be found in that as well. And that is the purpose of this blog. I intend for each blog post to focus on a particular storytelling idea, writing exercise, or some other tidbit that I found helpful in order to reflect on, document, and share that discovery.

It is my hope that the end product of this blog will look something like the step by step guide I always hoped to find on how to become a good writer.