I wonder if anyone ever "becomes a writer" or if we simply start that way but wait till something triggers us to actually start putting the words on paper (or computer)? I always knew I wanted to write - I knew I was good at it and even though I got A's in English and Creative Writing in high school, I was never encouraged to follow that. Don't get me wrong - I received lots of encouragement to go after whatever I was in the mood to pursue that day or week, and when I finally settled on first nursing and then later going back to school to become a mental health clinician everyone seemed to think that was the best fit for me. Still, I wanted to write.
I look back over my life now and I wonder why the hell I didn't go into Creative Writing at the start? It couldn't have been because I was afraid of failure - at that stage of my life I was so naive and arrogant that failure never entered my mind. It couldn't have been because I was afraid of not making enough money because again, at that stage in my life I assumed I would do well at anything and everything (life has since taught me otherwise).
I finally got the kick to put my first book together - a self-help about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder - when I realized there were no books on the topic - this was back in the early 90's - and I thought someone - me - had better write one. I didn't get around to fiction until several years later and I'm only now doing anything about marketing them. I do understand that delay - the writing is the easy part - finding the time to do the rest of it is time-consuming and with 14 children and a full-time career - time is the most valued and limited commodity in my life.
What finally got you moving - or are you young enough and smart enough to know that you are a writer now?
Well, whatever your process and wherever you are in your writing - have your best day possible.
Love that, Brenda. I too always loved to write but never pursued it. I was a singer of all things and obviously not a very successful one. We found an old book of mine when we were cleaning out my mother's storage, from when I was 12 years old called "I Am an Author." How funny is that to find it now? I went back to school and majored in English. One of my professors inspired me to start publishing some of my crazy novels and here I am. I guess Lilly holds the key to my Inner Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteHi Brenda,
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely post. As you know, I too am a professional, a psychologist in mental health who loves to write. I enjoyed writing as a child but somehow never pursued it. I look back now and wonder why I didn't. I guess one of the benefits of how things turned out is that I now have a secure job in an interesting field and I can write on the side and not have to make a living from it. There's just the problem of 'time'- finding it, making it and prioritising it- so that writing can become part of daily routine.
Jayne
Thanks for the follow! I am following back!
ReplyDelete