Excerpt for Essays for the Soul by Christine Rice, available in its entirety at Smashwords

Essays for the Soul

By Christine Rice

Copyright 2012 Christine Rice

Smashwords Edition

Discover other titles by Christine Rice at Smashwords.com:

Poetry for the Heart

My Not-So-Ordinary Life



Table of Contents

How One Becomes a Writer

Writing Forms

My Ideas on Writing

My Craft

How I Discovered Writing and Writing Discovered Me

I am going to be a Writer

Setting the Scene for Success in Adult Education

Signs You are in the Wrong Career

How to Use Credit Cards Wisely

Diary of an Online Degree Student

How to Overcome Writer’s Block

How to Become a Healthy Eater

Dangers of Perfectionism



How One Becomes a Writer

I suppose it all begins with writing – literally. Writing every thought, idea, and story down that comes to you, probably daily. Because daily writing spurs more writing and we all need writing to be writers, obviously. It starts before then though, with a passion. A passion to communicate and a love of written words. Then, it may lead to studying English or writing in school to enhance our skills. That is if you desire to be a professional writer as a career. But, some of us write simply because we enjoy it or need to. Some of us do journal writing, poetry, and short stories for fun, with no intension of being published. That is okay and great, because writing is soothing. I have no prejudice against writers that simply write without the stress of finding an agent, promoting their book, or writing as a living. Although the latter would be wonderful; because don’t we all just want to work doing what we most enjoy? Isn’t it some people’s dreams to turn a hobby or craft into a career?

Writing is fun and a game. Believe me not? What about the competition of seeking your muse? We all need a muse in order to get some substantial ideas down. For some of us at least; because some of us are closed-minded perfectionists that cannot get far with writing unless we let go and forget our worries and insecurities. That is how I must write. I am submissive to my muse. They give me the ideas first and then the words follow.

Don’t you just love spell-check? I mean the automatic function on word processors that jaggedly underlines sentences in green when they are not grammatically correct. That is helpful for school assignments, but not for free-hand writing. It drives me buggy, because I don’t always like to be 100% grammatically correct when I am creatively writing. For, occasionally my invalid sentences sound better and more accurate for my message than a perfect, by-the-law one.

Currently it is ninety degrees outside and probably ninety-five degrees inside where I am. I live in an attic apartment, which gets uncomfortably hot during hot and humid summer days. However, I am still at my computer, typing away, with an intermittent breeze coming my way from a weak house fan. Lovely writing conditions, but it doesn’t seem to bother me much. At least I’m not sweating.


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