For over 15 years, local teacher Kate Senecal has been taking her passion for writing and passing her skills along to her students. After a stint at Clark University and HCC, Kate decided she needed something more. She needed a better way to connect with her students in order for them to hone their skills and truly develop their craft of writing. Kate brings an amazing wealth of experience and uses that to encourage writers of all genres and skills to realize their full potential.
As an aspiring author myself, I had the opportunity to sit down with Kate and get a first-hand, comprehensive breakdown of what she feels are her 4 steps for a prospective writer/author to know and follow in order to be successful.
1- Brainstorming: Ideas written in a “low stakes” way help you spend time writing to yourself, building a story, and simply get “stuff” on a page. A good suggestion is to read similar things to your brainstorming ideas in order to get a sense of how your particular genre of book may work.
2- Establish a routine: It is important to develop habits in order to improve at pretty much everything. Akin to weightlifting over time to get your muscles stronger, having a steady routine that helps you write with structure can help you organize ideas and avoid “writers block.”
3- Find a group or a coach: This can be a great time to trade writings with someone, allowing both of you to not only make suggestions, but also to figure out how each of your writing made the other person feel. Writing should invoke some type of emotion, from happy to sad to laughing, these are the ways we connect on a personal level to our readers. Groups or coaches are also great ways to avoid possible feelings of boredom while you write.
4- Start drafts: Drafts are what start the process of taking your notes and brainstorming ideas, and giving them a beginning, middle and end… basically turning thoughts into a story. This is where you can begin the focus on doing some editing, making cuts and improvements, and adding fine details to paint a clearer picture. This is the part of the process where we fill gaps and really glue together the entire creative process. During this phase, you may even be inclined to start looking into publishers.
Making the choice to start writing can be rather intimidating. Putting yourself out there on paper for the world to see can seem like an impossible journey, one that requires more skill and courage than imaginable. If you feel the “itch” to write, get a hold of Kate and let her introduce you to a world of opening your mind and imagination, and letting your creative self take over. Writing can be fictitious, fact based, sad, happy, funny or poetic. Whatever style fits you, I highly recommend taking the leap. For more information, visit www.katesenecal.com
Struggling to enjoy writing? Shift your mindset - ditch perfection, embrace the mess! Set small goals, write freely, and celebrate progress. Treat writing like play, not work. The more you write without pressure, the more fun and rewarding it becomes.