My cousin Ben called me a few days ago. “Joe,” he said, “I’ve read everything you’ve written about writing on your website. What you’re really doing is writing for writers. Why don’t you write something for us non-writers. You know, sometimes we want to write down our ideas but hold back because we didn’t go to college or because we don’t know grammar or how to spell. What kind of advice can you give us non-writers?”

If what I’m about to say makes any sense to non-writers, or even writers, then try these “Seven Pieces of Writing Advice” that my cousin Ben inspired me to put together:

(1) If you write with a pen or pencil, buy yourself an 8 1/2” x 11” spiral notebook. If you prefer to write on a computer, open up a New Folder on your desktop and call it “My Journal.”

(2) Use your spiral notebook or “My Journal” folder to write down your thoughts, feelings, stories, poems, ideas or anything else you can think of.

(3) Write down the day and date before each entry. Now, start writing—anything. If you know what to write, great. If you don’t know what to write, write whatever comes to mind.

(4) Write for at least ten minutes without stopping. Don’t look back to see what you’ve written until the ten minutes or more are up.

(5) If your spelling, grammar or punctuation is all jumbled, that’s all right. The important thing is, you’ve written something rather than nothing. Remember, you can always go back and revise.

(6) For the first week, write for at least ten minutes every day.

(7) For the second, third and fourth weeks, write for at least fifteen minutes every day. After a month you will have written a great deal and gotten the writing bug.

Keep writing and good luck!

There’s a quote taped to my desktop computer that’s staring me in the face this very second. It comes from a writer who’s influenced me more than any other writer—William Saroyan. Speaking of which, there was a front page article in the San Francisco Chronicle last week about the 100th anniversary celebration of Saroyan’s birth that was going to take place at the Palace of Fine Arts here in San Francisco, the city where Saroyan made his mark on the world with his short story “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze.” I called to see if I could attend the event but was told it was sold out, which saddened me. I was extremely happy, though, to know that Saroyan is still remembered and has a following. Here’s the quote that I personally got from him when I accidentally ran into him at a corner grocery store in San Francisco many years ago: “All writing is connected to writing.”

What does Saroyan’s quote mean? It means that anything you write—an e-mail, journal entry, story, plus everything from a Twitter tweet to a novel—is part of the writing process. But if you only think about writing and don’t write (believe me, I’m speaking from first-hand experience), that’s not writing, that’s procrastinating.

So, to all of you procrastinators out there, get on the ball, find a place to sit down and begin writing. Don’t worry about spelling and grammar. Start writing before you rot.

Which instrument is best for writing a first draft—the pen or the computer?

The pen, for me, is a little more physical, visceral, tangible, tactile. I believe I can dig deeper into my mind and explain myself better with a pen. Plus, I can jot down notes with a pen anywhere and at anytime.

On the other hand, writing on a computer is a great timesaver. I can write twice as fast on a keyboard than I can with a pen. Cutting and pasting on a computer is another great timesaver. Also, I don’t have to transcribe my handwritten work onto the computer—it’s already there.

I remember when Michael Phelps won one of his eight gold medals in swimming at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by the length of a fingernail. That’s how much a pen wins out over a computer for me—by a fingernail.

Of course, it’s up to each individual to make up his or her mind whether to write a first draft using a pen or computer.