5 challenges I faced to become a writer
Caterpillars are astounding! It’s magical how one small creature can transform into something as beautiful as a butterfly. Yes, this change is hard-wired into the caterpillar’s DNA. Still, to metamorphose into something so different from the original that no-one could connect the two is amazing.
I’ve been working on transforming myself, too. Not into a butterfly, duh. Into a writer!
In 2019 I quit my job, rearranged my finances, and began my new career as a writer. Then I discovered there were more challenges to becoming a writer than re-doing my budget. Some challenges took caterpillar-level transformative powers to overcome.
Here are 5 significant challenges I faced in becoming a writer.
1. You call yourself a writer?
One piece of advice I read from an established author was call yourself a writer. All the time. On immigration cards, on surveys, to strangers you meet in bars. Grab that identity by the horns and plant it firmly in your head.
The challenge here relates to imposter syndrome. You can read a lot about this from other writers, and artists in general. It stems from an internal belief that you are not good enough to be considered a writer. Look at Tolstoy and Stephen King, Jericho Brown and Sylvia Plath. How on earth could I claim to be a writer, like them?
This self-doubt is based in fear. Fear that if I were to say I am a writer, I would be ridiculed and judged. ‘How can you be a writer?’ people would ask. ‘It’s ridiculous for someone your age to become a writer!’ people would judge. ‘You’re crazy to think you’ll make it as a writer,’ people would say.
Funny. In my experience, not one person has said any of these things to me. Far from it. Instead, I have been told I am brave to follow my dreams; that they can’t wait to read my book; that I am smart to do what makes me happy.
With repetition, I started to feel my identity as a writer take root. Now, I call myself a writer all the time. With confidence. When people asked what I have written, I tell them about my novel in progress, my poems and my short stories. I am a writer.
My advice: Fake it ’til you make it!
2. There’s never enough time to write
‘That old chestnut,’ I hear every writer who ever existed say.
I created multiple reasons why there wasn’t enough time to write. I needed to exercise, I was too tired from work, I couldn’t focus, blah blah blah.
Excuses, all of them.
When I realized I was making excuses, I changed my focus from what I wasn’t doing to what I was doing, and congratulated myself for what I achieved. I wrote 100 words after work. Good job. I scrolled the internet looking for writing competitions and submission options. Good job. I finished a chapter. Good job. I watched Netflix or read a book. Good job. I don’t make myself feel guilty for not writing, though. And I don’t make excuses anymore. I see everything I do as contributing to my writing in the end.
But most of all, I wrote. Now, if I feel a niggling sensation at the back of my mind, I know it’s because I haven’t written recently. My need to write has grown into a dependence. There is no need for excuses. In fact, I now find I need to compel myself to stop writing to enjoy other aspects of life, like socializing with friends or walking the dog.
My advice: Think about everything you do in terms of the benefit it has to your writing. It all feeds into your writing and helps with the end result. And chocolate is the best reward!
3. My job is driving me insane
My job continues to drive me insane, and I have no power to change this. The challenge here is to accept the need to work, and change the way I think about my job.
We all need to eat, pay rent and heat our houses, and we need money to do these things. As an emerging writer (I like that term — emerging — it reminds me of the butterfly) I make very little from my writing. In fact, to this date, I have made exactly zero dollars and zero cents from my writing.
I know being a writer and being a full-time writer are two different things. I also know that making a living from writing alone is a significant challenge. There are a lucky few who achieve this and the rest of us are happy to sell a few books and know people are reading what we write.
It’s not so much my job that is driving me insane. It’s the fact that going to work gets in the way of writing. For example, I recently finished the first draft of my novel. I want nothing more than to tackle the edits, and begin work on my next project. Why can’t I stay at home and write all the time? I whine.
Part of the problem here is systemic — writers do not make a lot of money because writing is not valued that highly. Think about the rise in the cost of living over the past 50 years. Then compare this to the cost of books over the past 50 years. I can guarantee you these figures have moved in opposite directions.
Companies such as Amazon have proved to be a double-edged sword in this matter. On one hand, they have increased access to books through their massive distribution networks and self-publishing processes. On the other hand, books are seen as mere products to be consumed as cheaply as possible.
Amazon’s job is to increase its profits for its shareholders. This does not Amazon evil, just a company operating in a capitalist society. The negative aspect of what they offer is the squeeze it puts on writers. We spend hours, days, years working on our art, then Amazon offers it up for consumption at a piddling rate of $1.99 for an e-book!
While Amazons continues to offer cheap products, consumers come expect this is normal pricing. It is the cost of the product that becomes important, not the value of the product. As we have seen, the cost of books has decreased because the value of books has decreased. Companies like Amazon thrive on this consumer behavior, and continue to devalue the art of writing through focusing on the cost of books.
If books cost more, perhaps more writers would make a living from their writing. Of course, the flip-side to this cost vs. value argument is, if Amazon didn’t have such enormous distribution networks, there wouldn’t be as many books available for readers to buy.
A writing conundrum? You bet!
My advice: Find a job you enjoy that provides you a living. Remind yourself that you are working to live (and write), not living to work. Your job enables you to be a writer, and being a writer is a calling that surpasses usual employment. Oh, and write a best seller!
4. Writing is fun!
This may not sound like a challenge, but it is.
I really enjoy writing. I love creating people, worlds, conflicts and resolutions. I love finding ideas to write about, and being inspired by other writers and the world around me. I love immersing myself in my story, until it’s all I think about.
If there was nothing more to being a writer than writing, I would be in heaven. Yet as I have discovered, it takes a lot more work, and this work is not always enjoyable. There are the constant rewrites, edits, researching, finding publications to submit to, managing submittable, keeping numerous spreadsheets up-to-date, managing websites, and so on. As well as managing my own self-doubts and descents into imposter syndrome form time-to-time.
These tasks are more valuable than you might think, though. The more I do them, the more skilled I become, and the less time and effort they take. They’re still not writing, but they are part of the writing process.
My advice: Pay attention to all aspects of being a writer, and get good at them!
5. Getting published
Getting published is the gold standard of success for a writer. Whether it be a short story, a poem, a flash, a memoir, a play, a movie script, or a novel. All we want is for someone to say ‘This is great writing. Can I please publish this for all the world to read?’
To be published, writers need a great idea, to write it well, to edit it precisely, and to submit it widely. Even then the likelihood of publication is low. There are hundreds of writers vying for every publishing spot. There are thousands of writers around the world writing a novel. This is the reality of being a writer.
It can be disheartening to submit time and again, yet never have anything published. This can lead to a crisis of confidence. We might begin to think, if the publishing world is rejecting my writing, isn’t that a sign I’m not good enough?
No. You might not be good enough right now, or that piece was not the right fit for that publication or that agent. It doesn’t mean you are not a good enough writer or that you cannot succeed.
Writing, for me, is not an option. It’s not something I choose to do, it is something I am compelled to do. I remind myself often that even if I am never published I will continue to write. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop submitting pieces for publication, or entering writing contests, or applying for grants. I am, after all, a writer. I want to achieve that gold standard too!
My advice: Keep writing, keep reading, keep submitting. Read what other writers have to say about the writing and publishing processes. You will find you are not alone. And don’t forget to enjoy yourself!
Each challenge I faced in becoming a writer has made me a stronger, better writer.
1. Accepting my identity as a writer has increased my confidence when talking about my work.
2. Using my time wisely has made writing a priority in my life.
3. Using my job as a break from writing, as time to process my thoughts, has given it a value beyond just a paycheck.
4. Paying attention to all the writing processes has helped me produce better work.
5. And submitting wide and often has resulted in getting published.
The challenges you face will often be different from mine. Overcoming those challenges, though, will have the same result. You will be a better writer than you ever imagined.
Just remember — there’s always more challenges to come!
