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Just Because You Find Writing Hard It Doesn’t Mean You’re Not A Writer

By on April 9, 2017
ust Because You Find Writing Hard It Doesn’t Mean You’re Not A Writer - Writer's Life.org

Ever meet one of those writer’s who truly believes that writing is their destiny? That they have always just known that they ‘have to write.’ The ones who claim to wake up in the middle of the night and simply must get out of bed and write until the crack of dawn because the words just simply pour out of them?

Perhaps I sound a little bitter. However, I do think that while it is wonderful for those writers who feel as though they have found their true calling through writing, for most of us it’s a struggle. Yes I admit it, I think writing is frustrating and it's tiring and it's difficult.

Writers are notoriously hard on themselves, and this is something that we should learn to change. We need to be our biggest supporters, our biggest fans. However, sometimes it is simply not as easy as that.

Many writers struggle to write, and just because you do doesn’t mean you are not a true writer, nor does it mean you’re not as talented and hard-working as other writers, or that you deserve a publishing deal any less.

It’s OK if writing isn’t your entire universe. If you love writing your book but you only do it on weekends and sometimes not even then because frankly you just want to have a lie in or have drinks with friends or watch tv all day and not care about anything else.

Writer’s seem to think that unless you write full time, that you have a ‘proper’ book publishing deal and that you spend every living breathing minute of your life tap, tap tapping away on your computer that you shouldn’t call yourself a writer - and that people will mock you and laugh in your face, or patronise and belittle you, or think that you are supremely arrogant and pompous if you do.

Many writers feel as though they are imposters, even when they are successful they find it tough to believe that they have any authority on the subject and bestowing upon themselves the title of ‘writer’ seems big-headed and foolish.

Writing doesn’t have to be effortless, and being a writer certainly isn’t. Even the most famous and successful of writers have talked about their struggles, and their frustration and pain when writing hasn’t gone their way, or when they’ve tried to write but been unable to, or have thought their writing was dreadful, torn it all up and started again.

If we believe that to be a writer you have to consistently produce work without having to think about it, that the words simply fall, perfectly formed and beautiful from your head to the page, then really how many people could actually call themselves one?

We should never let our writing fears hold us back, and accepting that writing is hard is just one of the things we should do to help us believe in ourselves more.

If we can concentrate on writing a little bit every day, not worrying about the final product, accepting that writing is a learning process and there will always be more to learn and new ways to grow. If we can support one another, and, above all, keeping pushing through even when writing feels painful and boring and tedious we might just be writers after all!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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