Ever since I've entered college (and since, left) telling people that I'm pursuing writing, my family, among others, have started coming forward and informing me that they too considered writing when they were younger.
I just got off the phone with my father this weekend who told me stories from when he was my age and was writing short stories. Then he said, "I guess a lot of people start out wanting to be writers."
The difference between writers and those who wanted to be writers is really one thing: perseverance. You don't actually have to be a good writer to become published, even. Just take a good look at some of the books in your local bookstore. There is a lot of crap, to tell the truth.
It's not an easy career by far. It's a lot of time alone, obsessing over a keyboard, slashing parts we love from manuscripts because they don't work and therefore are slashing parts of ourselves, all wrapped up with a whole lot of rejection. That's the simple truth of it.
A quote I heard this weekend while watching the new episode of Project Runway really cemented the idea for me. It was from the first girl to get kicked off the show. In a voice over as she was leaving, she said, "If everyone gave up after after their first rejection, no one would get anything they wanted."
So I submit the idea to wannabe-writers everywhere: The difference between being a writer and wanting to be a writer is perseverance and the ability to never get up.
When it's three o'clock in the morning, and nothing is going right with your story, and you can't figure out what's supposed to happen or how to make it work, just sit back and take a deep breath. Remind yourself that you can get through this, that the end is worth it, and continue on.
No comments:
Post a Comment