START WRITING TODAY WITH SNATCH TIME

An often-recurring subject in writer's magazines, blogs and newsletters aims to energize a certain group of uncertain people. They want to write but somehow never put their butts to a chair, their minds to work on a specific writing concept and fix their words on paper or in a computer document. That's all it takes to turn your thoughts into a copyrighted intellectual property, no registration required. Isn't that wonderful? The simple act of writing means you own the piece you've written for as long as you live — or until you sell it.
Everyone who wants to write — but doesn't — has their own mix of reasons. Lack of confi­dence in their writing ability probably figures prominently in the mix, as does the paralyzing conviction that they'll never have time for it. This excuse is often coupled with an obscenely-strong commitment to watching professional athletes do things with balls, displaying skills the athletes have devoted their lives to developing. Why would you want to spend a slew of your life's precious hours watching people perform their well-paid but actually inconsequential feats instead of using as much of your priceless free time to develop your own fame and fortune-winning ability to write?
I said obscenely-strong advisedly. No one can become a successful writer whose mental energies during free time are largely consumed by brain-rotting TV programs and sports — unless you aspire to write sit-coms or be a sports writer.
For those who can't follow a routine that sets aside specific times they will devote to writing, forsaking all other temptations, there's another way: Write in snatches. You may say, “Snatching bits of time here and there won't work for me because I write on a computer, and one is never available when inspiration strikes.”
First, banish the idea that you can 't write until inspiration strikes—that's an amateur's excuse. .If you aspire to be a pro writer (defined as someone who makes her or his living by writing) start thinking like one. A pro writes whenever the circumstances make it possible—inspired or not. Second, get rid of the idea that keyboarding a computer is the only way you can write.
Learn to use other methods to capture words in snatches. Seven practical ways are available:
1. Write in Longhand. Ex Prez Nixon wrote his several heavy tomes with pen and pad. Many other writers do the same.
2.Write in Shorthand. I've written a lot of stuff with Gregg. Transcribing Gregg on a computer provides the first revision that you can do at your best typing speed if you transcribe your shorthand notes soon after you wrote them, such as right after you get home from work. Otherwise you may not be able to decipher some of your shorthand notes. In our computer-saturated culture, shorthand may seem like a big step back towards the horse and buggy days. Whether it's worth investing the time to learn a shorthand system is a matter of individual choice. But if you want to know more about this method of capturing words, googling one word, shorthand , will show you what's available.
I happened to know Gregg shorthand before I started writing. That came about when, knowing I'd soon be in the military, I was the only guy in an evening Gregg class, a circumstance that had unique challenges and rewards.
3.Dictate to a person. This is how Winston Churchill wrote his prodigious output but he did it with a team of stenographers in long sessions , not in brief snatches of time.
4.Dictate to a recording machine. You can transcribe it yourself, revising as you go, or have this done by a professional transcriber.
5.Dictate to a computer. Dragon has perfected software that will capture your words on screen. Excellent for snatching minutes if your Dragon-equipped computer is usually available and your work situation permits.
6.Type on a typewriter. Formerly almost universal, this method has largely gone the way of the Model-T Ford although a few writers still cling to it.
7.Keyboard a computer. While this and #5 are now the main methods of word capture for productive writers, they don't work well for snatching minutes unless your job keeps you at your computer most of the day.
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The best way for most of us to use snatched minutes to write is also the easiest: it's #1. All you have to do is keep pen and paper with you — a 3 x 5 pocket-sized pad works fine. Snatching minutes from his busy workday is how John Grisham launched his fabulous writing career.
Many beginning writers find that the first words of any piece of writing are the hardest to put down. They have an idea they feel is terrific as it floats around in their heads in a flux of images. However, capturing those ideas eludes them because images tend to evaporate when someone tries to pin them down with specific words.
Here's how to get around this common difficulty: before you sit down to write, loosely compose what you want to write in your head, or list a few points you want to cover on your pad. This will enable you to quickly and easily slide through the staring-at-the-blank-page barrier. In the begin­ning, it doesn't matter how clever or common your first words are. Don't give that potential roadblock a second's thought or it can stop you cold. Just capture the gist of your idea whether your words are rough or smooth. Use whatever occurs to you; polish later like all pro writers do. Now your goal should simply be to nail the concept down on paper so you can expand it when a few minutes at home are available. Once you have created some words on paper that at least briefly outline your concept, you automatically move into the revision stage, growing your piece from its original brief rendition to what you want it to become.
Writing in snatches is a turbo charger for the mind. Every time you use this writing technique, it deepens your commitment to the piece you've chosen to work on. Your first few words will get you involved. Writing them starts more words flowing and gives you plenty to think about during the day's writing-useful-non-snatch time (WUNST). These are brief times when your entire concentration isn't required locally — but they are writing-useful non-snatch time. Make use of these WUNST moments such as walking from point A to point B, standing in line or waiting for an elevator. The more often you snatch time for your writing, the faster its power to inspire you will build. Within a short time, writing your piece stops being something you have to force yourself to do; time to write will find you because it's what you are not only determined to do, you crave to do it.
The urge to write is addictive. The more you do it, the more you want to study it, perform it and perfect it. The vital concept here is that writing skill doesn't dull with use. It sharpens, grows stronger and arms you with the tools and skills it takes to write professionally.
The only hard part is starting and sticking with it until enabling-emotion upgrades your thinking processes to the writing level. We all have that level because story-telling is as old as our species. It may be dormant but it's there—just waiting to be awakened
© 2011 Warren Jamison