In My Other Life I’m a Writer
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In my other life I’m a freelance writer.
It’s not an easy thing to claim to be a writer. Brady, in his blog Hunting the Muse, did a great job of writing about this feeling. The ever inadequate feeling of being someone who writes versus a writer.
When I was still a kid, a young teenaged human versus a young goat (just in case the thought occured to you), my Uncle told me no one under the age of 40 could be a real writer. Anyone under 40 hasn’t experienced enough life to write about it. This really discouraged me for years. I think it still does even though I will be 45 this December. I understand his feelings yet he really was so very wrong. Life happens from the time you are in the womb until the time you leave the planet. No point in the path should be glossed over as not important or worth writing about.
Anyway, I still find it hard to believe in myself as a writer. I love to write. I love the words. I love hearing the sound of myself writing. At times I even talk out loud when I read my words back to myself. I like the audience of one however. I can laugh at my own words, find the humour in them cause I know it will be there right where I left it. Someone else might laugh at the wrong parts.
Writing was easier when I was doing more of it. That much I have learned from my experience. If you learn anything today, learn that from me. When you are in the world of writing (even if it’s not for greater publications) you are involved, you are active and your brain is in gear. You feel the words in your mind and they flow much faster and simpler. There is more confidence in your ability when you are using it.
Anyway, if I could arrange my life the way I would like it (like playing a simulation game on the computer) I would be writing a weekly column for newspapers, syndicated all over the places. I like writing short pieces. I can find a beginning, a middle and an end for them. Longer work has too much middle. I get lost in there and don’t know if I really can write my way to the end of it all. I’m going to try though. I’ve come up with a plan and they say that is how it starts.
Do you feel you are a writer? Do you feel sure about yourself if you tell someone else you are a writer? If not, what would it take for you to feel you are a writer? What kind of success do you need? How can you get there? Maybe you can try something today, take some steps to walk into that bigger picture.
2 Comments
PW
June 15th, 2009
at 5:30am
A couple people have told me that I should write a book, but they all say that. I consider myself not really as a writer, but more of a person who loves adventure.
I strongly disagree with your Uncle. Though I have just reached the 40th birthday milestone, I feel I have lived through a lot of experiences. I have lived in various parts of the US. Visited many other states and even two provinces of Canada. Have white water rafted as a non-swimmer, as a camp counselor with the raft filled young girls. I have traveled over 30,000 miles by train. etc etc.
You have a unique approach, history. I disagree with your Uncle. Look back over your life. Though I don’t know you at all, I’m positive you have had experiences that are uniquely yours. We all do. Straighten your shoulders, and let the writing juices flow….the world wants to hear about you!!!
Diana
June 15th, 2009
at 12:02pm
I think there are a lot of people who are not writers who create this myth about what is and isn’t art, what is and isn’t creative and who is and isn’t a writer. My mother had a similar line about a writer only being valid if you get published and it’s for pay. Certainly I’ve written some for pay, but since writing is an undervalued service - especially given how in-demand it is - that’s still a long and difficult journey even when you don’t take into account how much work truly crafting a good piece is.
I’ve broken through a lot of the crap with the Artist’s Way, and I blog with my cluster here if you’d like to see. I say write, and let the universe sort out whose writing matters. Your words here spoke to me, so that definitely mattered, and would have if you wrote this when you were 30, or 21. All walks of life deserve records - we need to know where we’ve been to understand where we’re going.