Do you ever wish you could write more? Do you wish you had the time? Or the ideas? If 2018 was the year I fell in love with reading, then 2019 will be the year I fall in love with writing (again).I remember, when I was younger I used to write poems and stories all the time. I had lots of little diaries and notepads. I loved to write letters and cards. I wrote about secret little clubs I'd set up and I wrote about adventures, so many adventures. I loved writing so much that I once cried in a test at school because I couldn’t spell the word ‘kite’, I couldn’t finish the sentence I wanted to write. I couldn’t tell my story.Then somewhere between trying to live a better story and spelling more difficult words like 'mortgage' and 'pension', whilst trying to run in the rat race, I forgot about writing. I forgot what it was like to wake up at 2:14 am grasping for a pen and a scrap of paper. I forgot about the 100's of notes pages on my iPhone and I forgot about all of those stories I'd started and left untold.  But last year I picked up my pen again.Writing is becoming a huge part of my life and I’m so grateful for it.  After years and years of living my biggest travel regret over and over again, I decided it was time to just write, (even when I don't feel like it) and now writing is helping me tell my story and it's helping me design the life I want to live.

Writing has so many benefits.

• Writing can help with your mental health - not only does it allow you to reflect on experiences, but it also allows you to look back with gratitude and clarity. Emptying your mind onto a page is liberating, there is so much room for other things when you surrender the things you are holding onto.
• Writing can help with your imagination and creativity. Creativity is a muscle and the more you use it the stronger it will get. The more you write the more the ideas will flow, one idea leads to another and then another. You'll see.
• Writing can help you recover memories. It's so easy to forget things, writing can help you force yourself back to a moment, a holiday, write it down before it's gone forever.
• It's been proven that when you write things down, your brain process things differently, helping you prioritise, or see things from a different perspective.
• Writing can help develop your self-control and discipline. It's so easy not to do things, but if you can practice showing up and writing day in day out, the same self-control and discipline can be transferred to other areas of your life.
• But mostly writing can help you tell your story.

You have such a special and unique view of the world, no one else experiences the world as you do, no one else has seen the sunset the same way you have. You have such beautiful stories within you, you owe it to the world to set them free.  The world is waiting for you to tell your story

How to write more

The start is the hardest part. I promise you, everything else is easy.  But the start is so hard and so painful, that's where most people give up.  To get over this you need to set a clear target. Is it 100 words? Is it to sit for 1 hour a day and write? For me, it's my Monday posts. Week in week out. I made a promise to myself to post once a week, so I do it. Even when I'm up till midnight on a Sunday trying to figure out what to say. Or when I post at 11:50 pm on a Monday because I'd had a busy weekend. What's your target? What's your promise to yourself?Want to write more? List 100 ideas for blog posts or stories, or even just memories that you don't want to fade away. The next time you have a lunch break or a long train ride, pull out a memory and write until you've squeezed the life out of your memory and it's splattered all over the page.Want to write more? Write for yourself, don't worry about what other people will think or what they might say. Write because you want to remember your life. Write because your story matters.If you want to know what you're made of, stare at a blank page, a blank screen and don't stop until you've written 100 words, 500 words, the blog post, the chapter, the book. It's bloody hard work.  But it is worth it.  If I can write 850 words a week, then I can write 1,500. If I can write 1,500 words a week, then I can write 2,500. If I can write 2,500 words a week, then I can finish my first book and if I can finish my first book, I can write my second.  And If I can do it, you can too!

**I’m thinking of finally launching my weekly newsletter this Easter and I’d love to include some writing prompts. Some ideas and things to help you get your stories started. What do you think? Do you like the sound of this? Send me a message or join my newsletter list now. I can’t wait to read your stories....