You are not a natural.
You will have to work for your success.
It may take you years to find your voice.
Your friends will flatter you.
Red ink is useful to you.
The struggle and effort will pay off.
The vast majority of authors make very little money, but writers can earn a nice living. It’s the difference between publishing books and having a life and job centered on writing and communicating.
You always need an editor.
More things you cannot convey.
The Things You Cannot Convey To A Young Writer (Or Any Other Calling) by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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Awesome. And completely accurate.
Thanks, Iain.
Thank you. Absolutely on point!
And I take comfort from the fact that I have a few years left to find my voice. Or the story I really want to tell.
Take all the time you need. And keep writing!
Loving catching up on your blog this morning. Love this Seth Godin style post. I try to write one like this a few times a month. It’s a lot harder than folks think.
You’re not kidding. It’s easier for me to write 500 words than to pare something down like this. I’m working on a big corporate web site right now and I’m spending hours on end trying to get the text down to just a few sentences and words, but just the right ones. It’s tough!
But, I don’t wanna work!
I particularly like the distinction drawn between authors and writers. I really believe writers write.
An excellent list – well pared to essentials.
Wonderful post and so true! It’s not something anyone wants to hear (especially when they’re just starting out), but most writers come to realize all of those things over time.
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