It’s easy to say, “I want to be a writer because I have something to say.”
It’s much less easy to claim, “I want to live like a writer.”
Not a rich and famous writer. A working writer.
That means spending hours, every day, alone. It means watching more than participating. It means making endless notes and becoming committed to careful thought. And it means finding the courage to continue in the face of loss and failure.
Is that the life that you want?
Maybe not. There’s a difference between becoming someone who can write well and someone who lives and works as a writer. Don’t sign up for the life of a writer if you can avoid it. I’m deadly serious about that. It is a curse to tell someone, “I wish you would live the life of an artist.”
But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s my life. You, however, may be a different kind of writer. It’s important to know that for yourself.
For today’s assignment, describe your writing life. What kind of a writer are you? How do you want to live as a writer?
As with many questions like this there are no incorrect answers, but until you put it on paper, you might not really know what type of writer you want to be, what kind of writer you are.
Discover it. Write it down. Then ask yourself, “Is that what I really want out of life?”
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