This document provides an introduction to the writing process. It discusses how writers use words as a "magician's wand" to communicate ideas and make things happen through writing. It outlines the main elements of writing, including subject, audience, and language. The writing process is presented as a series of steps: pre-writing, writing a first draft, evaluating and revising, and proofreading. Different aims for writing are also discussed, such as to inform, persuade, express oneself, or be creative. Finally, several pre-writing techniques are presented to help generate ideas, including keeping a writer's journal, free writing, brainstorming, clustering, asking questions, and finding information through reading and listening.