Wanna Be a Writer? The Secret Is to Just Write!

In this Craft Classic from Creative Nonfiction, one author and teacher shares the power of free writing and sharing your work with others—but most importantly, of just writing (and writing).

Illustration by Anna Hall/Creative Nonfiction archive

Lately everything has been feeling kind of serendipitous, craft-wise. I recently had the idea to do a piece on how to handle rejection, and just a few days later, writer and editor Parisa Saranj reached out about wanting to do a live event on the same topic. The end result? A week of content about rejection! Then, yesterday, during Writer’s Hour — our Wednesday morning write alone-together session — I shared a nugget of advice from Louise Erdrich on not thinking about appearances and just writing. So, when I came across Matthew Mercier’s Craft Classic from Creative Nonfiction originally titled “Just Write,” I knew we had arrived at a theme for this week, and that I had to share the piece. With that, please enjoy the craft essay below and, you know, just write. —Jesse Sposato, executive editor