You Are a Writer

Dear Readers -- this is for all of you. All of you are writers whether or not you think you are.


Becoming a writer requires only one thing: That you write.

You suspect it's not as simple as that. You're right, of course.

You may stare at the page, clutching your lucky pen, but no ideas come to mind.  There are many ways to break that impasse: take the pressure off and just write, freeform, on whatever comes to mind. Interrogate a dream (my favorite method). Do word sprints -- a method where you use a prewritten suggestion and write on that topic, exercising your mind in a non-threatening way. Because writing is threatening -- you risk internal reflection, growth, exploration of disconcerting topics. And maybe, possibly, recognition. Give yourself a pep talk -- you are a writer! You can withstand the threats of reflection and exploration.

Then, you follow the flow of writing, and you feel the flow of ideas -- until you don't. You stare at the page in front of you, where words abruptly stopped in the middle of the page. You have several options at this point: create an outline and fill in the plot points so you know where to go. Write what you know. Research the details you're not sure of. Take a break. Think of a future, more exciting scene and write that.  Give yourself a pep talk -- you are a writer! All writers face that moment when ideas run dry.

When you're done with your manuscript, you face the most important and most difficult part -- editing. You need to edit because, while your words flowed, your grammar, punctuation, and continuity did not. You may find that your characters ended up on a yacht with no indication why. Or one of your characters practices "elf-defense" and there are no elves in the story.  Maybe your protagonist changed race. Little things like that. This part of editing you may be able to do yourself. Give yourself a pep talk -- you are a writer! Tedious as this is, you can do it.

The other type of editing you will find more challenging, and that is reading for plot, flow of ideas, and readability. You may be so used to your story by then that you can't recognize problems with description, plot holes, characterization, and other aspects that will make or lose the reader's interest. You may feel threatened by someone else reading your manuscript -- "oh, G-d, what if they don't like it?!" Give yourself a pep talk -- you are a writer! You can bear the criticism and use it to make yourself better.

Writing is not just a creative process -- it's a journey of growth. Few writers get their first work published -- I thought I would, but I have since edited it so many times, it's no longer my first work! I sent that revised, revised, and revised document out on queries later this week, and I'm holding my breath that an agent takes the hook. I'm giving myself a pep talk -- I am a writer! I can withstand rejection again!