How To Be A Writer

BoomerCafé editor and co-founder Greg Dobbs has had a successful career and made a good living as a writer. He believes everyone has the ability to become a writer but talent begins with discipline and focus –

Because I’ve always been a writer — documentaries for HDNet Television, news stories for ABC News, opinion columns for Scripps-Howard, even a textbook for university-level journalism students — I’m often asked about my approach to writing. So, since we’re now soliciting pieces from baby boomers for BoomerCafé, I thought it might be helpful to include my response to a recent inquiry. A man in Corvallis, Oregon asked, what are the biggest obstacles to overcome when you’re beginning to write, and he named four categories: legal, political, physical, and mental.

I told him, it’s a great question, partly because it’s critical to know what the obstacles are so you can figure out how to overcome them, and also because I’m not sure anyone has ever asked me that particular question before. Mind you, my answer is only mine; if you ask four people who write, you probably will get four different answers. And if you ask six, you might get a variety of six answers because I can think of two more potential problems: time, and organization.

So first, let me rule a few out, at least for me, personally.

“Legal” is only a problem if you don’t understand the laws that might pertain to what you’re doing: libel laws, privacy laws, open records laws, and so forth.

“Political” is a problem only if you don’t have thick skin; frankly, you can’t do what I’ve done for so long, in both the “news” and the “opinion” ends of the business, and have thin skin; if anything, I welcome political combat.

“Mental” shouldn’t be a problem if you’ve got something about which to write. If it’s about an issue or a real event, then the topic’s ripe for the taking; if it’s some kind of fiction, then either your head holds the core of the story or it doesn’t, but since I have never done fiction — probably because I’d be no good at it — I can’t really speak to it more specifically.

And “physical?” Give me a comfortable chair and decent light and a keyboard that doesn’t stick and off I go.

That leaves the two elements I added: time, and organization. For me, time is the biggest issue, for two reasons. One is, I can’t get myself going unless I know there’s a good chunk of time to spend, either to complete a free-standing segment of whatever I’m writing, or to get the whole thing done. Nothing frustrates me more than having something laid out in my mind but needing to quit because I’ve run out of time.

Organization can be the second issue, and everyone deals with it differently. For me, if there’s any magic at all, it comes when my fingers connect to the switchboard. It becomes stream-of-consciousness, whether I’m writing a 700-word opinion column or a 30-minute documentary or a 300-page book. Some writers do an outline or an even fuller layout of what they’re writing (what script writers might call “a story board”), but strange as it sounds, my organization just comes as the words flow through my fingers. That’s not so illogical; the best stories are the ones where A leads to B, then B leads to C, and so forth. You have to think a little bit to figure out what “A” ought to be because anything you write should start strong, and likewise, you want to know what “Z” is going to be before you even choose “A.” But then, if your mind works that way, go with the flow. It’s not the best way for everyone and if it’s not best for you, then do an outline, in your mind if not on paper, but before you start, try to visualize the direction of whatever you’re writing and make sure it has the sequence you want.

And finally, no matter how your organize your writing, be prepared to look at it, see its flaws, and start all over again!

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