I’ve got nothing to write about.

‘I want to be a writer,” I hear, “but I’ve got nothing to write about.”

This is a difficult one. Difficult not because there IS nothing to write, but difficult because to me this excuse expresses one of two quite different problems.

Problem one is that some people are very much taken by the idea of wanting to be an author with their name in big letters on the front of a book, touring the country doing author signings and besieged by fans wanting autographs. But, in spite of that dream, the person is not really inspired to write anything. That’s too much hard work.

If this is you, stop reading now. Go on. Find something else to do. Because if you want to BE a writer, but don’t really want to write, I can’t help you. And if you’re after fame and fortune, then turn your back on writing and go and sign up for Big Brother, or Australia’s Got Talent, or do a nudie run at the tennis or… You get the picture. Your problem here isn’t that you’ve got nothing to write about, it’s that you don’t care enough about the writing to actually sit down and write something. And there are much easier ways of getting famous.

But problem two is something different. You want to write, maybe even need to write (and by need, I don’t mean need to do it to get rich and famous, but rather need to because you have this inner voice that insists you express yourself through writing) but when you sit down to do it, you find you can’t. Sometimes called writer’s block (which comes in different shapes and forms, in my experience) the answer here is more complex, but very often that feeling of having nothing to write about is self imposed. “I could write a story about…nah, no one would like that.” “I’ll write a novel about…nah, been done before.” So instead of having nothing to write about, you are telling yourself you have nothing important, or funny enough, or publishable enough to write about.

If this is you, there is one solution. Stop second guessing yourself. Just sit down and write. Often. preferably every day. Start something and finish it. Start something else and finish that. Read a writing book or browse the web for good writing exercises and try them. Once you’re in the writing habit you can start thinking about publication, or sharing your work. But for now, just write. About anything and everything. If you really want to write, you’ll find things to write about.

So what are you waiting for? You want to be a writer – write.