I love this, by Benjamin Franklin: "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. "

I tell my students in my personal experience writing class to keep a PE journal of things they do, that happens to them, their emotions at that time, the setting, the people involved. That way they can go back later when they are ready to write about it and the details will be there.

It's easy as writers to spend much of our lives sitting and creating with words. But we still have to live life if we want to write about life. I guess that's why so many of my sales have come from my personal experiences. They are rarely huge experiences, but events and situations involving myself and other people where I've learned or grown or been challenged.

What have you done recently that you can write about? Can it be used in fiction and nonfiction both? All our experiences are ideas waiting to be used.