"I have always wanted to write, but I don't know where to start."

I cannot tell you how may times I have heard that statement and even expressed it myself. Somehow, there are many people who think that writing is difficult. That there is a complex matrix for it, and that there is a willing and very critical readership waiting to pounce and charge at the shallowness of the written work. Some believe there is a special category that one must fit into for admission, and each of these categories has a set of boxes that need perfect ticking, like a ballot paper. All these reasons are valid in different measures.

Writing can be difficult and is difficult, and often, even for the most experienced writers, the skill sometimes goes on holiday. But then again, it depends on what you mean by "difficult". I am not a categorised writer- by this I mean, I am not a journalist, neither do I write in one style only all the time. Sometimes I will be inspired by something- a book , an article, love, faith, anger, thoughts, an experience, a new passion, my profession; and sometimes I will be inspired by someone: another writer, another person's experience, anything about another human being. I call these things a universe-of-stuff.

Different people find inspiration and motivation to write from this universe.What this then means, is that we can all write, because we all have a world.

Putting all the fears of a critical audience, bad language, poor punctuation, and conventions of specific genres of writing aside, anyone can write and sharpen this trade.

1. Think about your universe. If you think through your universe, there must be something of interest to you. Write about it. You could begin by answering "Wh" questions- ask yourself and then write the answers in full, as our primary school teachers insisted - why is this of interest? What is it that is interesting or unique about it ? Is there a history to it? Where might I get more information on it? What does it add to me or others? Who might it be of interest to ? Who are the people behind it? Why are they in it? Why should it be of interest to them? Why do I care about it ? Where does it happen? Where is it ? So what - if this happens? So what if does not happen? Obviously, these questions stimulate your thinking and will come in a different order, depending on what you are writing about, and why you are writing. Remember here, we are only beginning to get used to the craft of taming our minds into writing. Each question begets another question.
2. Begin in a safe space. I call it a safe space because it is. When you have thoughts, or a to-do-list or a something that you must write so that you do not forget, where do you write it? It could be on your phone notes, tablet, stick-it paper, or even on your diary or notebook. This is a safe space. It is yours. It is for your eyes. Beginning with writing for your eyes rather than for others helps you freely express yourself and get used to the idea of writing things, rather than only recording them on your mind. Explore writing something even on an MS Word Document. Type away something, save it and the next time you want to write, either edit it or open a new document and type something.Open a folder and keep adding to it.
3. Organise the thoughts in order. As you begin to answer the "Wh" questions in writing, go over your work and begin to see what would be good to begin with, what the major points are, and what the other smaller points that add to the major ones are. You also begin to see what clusters of information you can put together and create the famous paragraph. The best way to think of paragraphs is that a good paragraph expresses only one idea. As with all successful organisations, a good paragraph often has a leader - in our writing, this is a leader sentence. Every other sentence then adds to the information that the leader is passing across. A good sentence leader carries a big idea and the rest of the sentence elaborate this idea- perhaps through offering examples or just further explanations.
4. Keep at the frequency. The thing about writing, as with any other skill, is that one needs to practice. Hence the #2 note up there on safe space writing. Keep practicing. Write something thrice a week or four times. Keep writing and develop your own portfolio- which will be a list of articles that you have developed over time. Remember, just as with swimming or sewing, the strokes get better and seams get straighter.
5. Read what and who you admire. There is an interesting relationship between reading and writing, and now I see, listening and writing too. It helps to listen to speakers and writers of topics that you admire because this helps you learn their style of writing, their way of thinking, their vocabulary, how they express their thoughts , where they get their inspiration from etc. These things are useful when you're learning how to craft your thoughts. Follow these heroes on social media, read their books and articles, take note of the details of how they write, how they speak, what they say and how they say it. You will discover, even they have heroes. Even they have books that inspired them.While you may not copy , they will definitely inspire you and provoke your thinking. They may even inspire you to write differently!
6. Of categories and genres. Categories and genres may be the wrong words here, but academics write differently from journalists, who write differently from motivational book writers. The idea I would like to borrow here is that each of these writers are using words to express ideas. These ideas are inspired by their worlds. Academics, for example, are inspired by the search for knowledge through research and the need to share their findings with the world, motivational speakers are inspired by a need to encourage individuals to be the best they possibly under any circumstances and so forth. Each of them has to answer the question - "Why am I writing." Answering this question will help you find a space that you can fit in and express your ideas in written words.
7. On commas. And colons. And Vocabulary. Make no mistake- these are fundamental - but they cannot take the blame for not beginning to write. Good grammar is akin to the flour on a board that helps us roll out the chapati smoother and rounder. And while it plays a crucial role, the deficiency is never really in options for good language editors, but rather in ideas. The options for good language are there with products like grammarly ( https://www.grammarly.com/) , the MS Word language checks, a friend with an eye for grammar- but you see only you can summon the inspiration and ideas from your universe. This very article, combed well, will result in many red marks. In other words, language problems can be corrected, so work on developing the ideas first.

One final thought: As you begin to write, get ready to go back and forth and sometimes to even notice your struggles more vividly. This is part of the process and should be a sign to proceed rather than to stop.