How to Be Happy as a Writer
This week, let’s make ourselves a pact. I’ll stop comparing myself to other writers – and so will you.
This week, let’s make ourselves a pact. I’ll stop comparing myself to other writers – and so will you.
Do you know this game? If you’re a writer, you do: It’s where you write a draft, but it’s not right, so you put it aside and try again. And again.
If this describes you, congratulations! You’re a writer. And there’s hope for your draft.
Writing after a dry period is really hard, but there’s no secret to getting back into it. There are only a few simple steps.
These two things seem contradictory. Spoiler alert: they’re not.
We write our stories, and we do the best we can. For many of us, that means we write from perspective born of backgrounds we didn’t control, educations we weren’t aware were cheap, and information we didn’t know was dated.
I’m going to tell you precisely why I love Neil Gaiman’s work, and I’ll do it by breaking down one of my favorite short stories.
» Read more about: Why Neil Gaiman? »
The reason we feel the need to hold baby creations up to some 30-year pro’s for comparison is because our culture teaches us to judge all art according to salability – but salability is not the point of art.
So I wrote today for the first time since my dad died. It was not, shall we say, a *good* experience.
This month is not about producing something publishable. It’s about teaching yourself to just keep writing, to ignore the inner editor, and to let yourself just spill words onto the page.
Here’s a lie I’ll bet you’ve been told: “You have to figure out what you want to do before it’s too late.”
Fellow writer, this will not feel good to read, but it is VERY IMPORTANT.
I got so many requests for books on outside Amazon that I decided to give Draft2Digital a try again. Here are the results.
Two of my favorite go-to videos when I’m feeling down about writing. Take a few minutes and watch. Your heart will thank you.