It’s not easy to become, or remain, a writer — professionally or otherwise. It takes many people years to go from writing rough drafts on their overheating laptops to fulfilling their creative aspirations. Not because they don’t have what it takes or they aren’t good at what they do. That’s just the nature of publishing.
In the many years I’ve followed my own career path and mentored other writers along the way, I’ve encountered a significant amount of people who have told me that they don’t enjoy writing. To each their own; this is a judgment-free zone. But it has always puzzled me — someone who discovered early that writing was somehow a part of her, and who learned to love it even when her career took several unexpected turns away from publishing over time.
Being a writer is difficult because writing is difficult. But how normal is it to dislike the process — even when you’re actually sitting down to do it?
Writing Is, At the End of the Day, Work
You don’t want to hear this, which is exactly why I’m writing it. But just because you like writing, just because you might be good at it and really want to be successful, doesn’t mean it’s going to come easily to you all the time. Or ever.
Anyone who has actually tried writing a book (or any kind of story) knows that even if writing is something you typically enjoy, it’s still a lot of work to sit down and do the thing you like to do. Sometimes you hate having to write when you’re busy, or tired, or you’re feeling stuck. But you don’t hate writing. You dislike the feeling of having to push through mental and physical barriers — the discomfort of the craft — but you still love the process, and how it feels. What it means to you deep down.
If you want to be a published author, but you don’t enjoy writing, what you actually want is to be famous — or at the very least, you want the satisfaction of having accomplished a difficult task without doing any of the work. There’s a big difference between wanting to write stories and share them with the world, and wanting people to praise you for having your name on something published.
A lot of writers still want that, to a degree. But the love of writing is what drives them forward when things get rough.
The Satisfaction of ‘Having Written’ Matters
There is “writing” and there is “having written.” Most of the time, having written in the past feels pretty great. And there’s nothing wrong with feeling proud of yourself for having written — because against all odds, you did the thing even though you could have simply not followed through.
But there has to be a balance between the two — the action (writing) and the consequence (having written). You can’t celebrate having done it until you actually do it, and that’s the hardest part. You could write … but what if you did these six other less hard things instead? You should write, but excuse excuse excuse. How do you get from “I should sit down and write” to “wow, I’m so glad I did that”?
I’ve gotten pretty good at tricking myself into writing by opening the draft and telling myself to just write one sentence. Write one sentence, and then I can get up and do something else. Nine times out of ten, I never get up after that one sentence — I just complete my writing for that session, or for the day, and then I move on. Everyone is different, but that’s what currently works for me.
Knowing how good it’s going to feel when you’re done, though? That’s something everyone can use to their advantage. Capture that feeling and remember it when your brain is telling you not to write. It’s worth it.
There’s Only One Prerequisite to Becoming a Writer
And that’s being an active writer! Meaning that all you have to do, in order to consider yourself a writer, is to write. You don’t have to be published, or experienced, or have been doing this whole writing thing for a set amount of time. You just have to do the thing. And the only way you’re going to be able to manage that is to not only really want it … but also to use that desire to fuel your work.
I know writing is hard. I get it. There are going to be days you aren’t going to want to do it. Days you don’t think you have the time or the energy to get it done. There will be days you do write, but everything your brain spits out feels jumbled and wrong and you might start to wonder if you’re wasting your time trying to make sense of a messy, imperfect draft. Yes, all of this is normal. That doesn’t make it any less difficult.
But if you put in the work consistently, you’re already winning. You’re already miles ahead of all the aspiring writers who never put in the effort to turn their dreams into a reality. You’re doing great. Now go do what writers do best, and get back to work! (Yes, me too. I’m on deadline.)
Meg Dowell Writes 