There are many reasons why folks don’t write. Lack of talent isn’t one of them.

The advice to “Write what you know” is. This advice only seems logical. After all, how can you write about what you DON’T know? But writing what you know feels like counting bricks on a wall. Trying to write what you know often stalls the basic function of writing, which is to discover what you do NOT yet know.

It is fine to start with something, anything familiar. Start with one memory, one moment, one image of something you see or hear or smell. But then let writing take over. If it does not, it isn’t much fun.

Here is one tip: Listen. Don’t interfere. Listen. If you don’t hear anything, go do something else. If you do hear something, begin.