by Amelia Wonderland

Created on: June 13, 2009   Last Updated: June 16, 2009

There are two things that I have come to believe this year. First, I am insanely in love with writing. And second, my writing may never be good enough to make it into the coveted world of commercial publishing. So how do I live my life, knowing that my voice, no matter how aspiring it is, may be forever drowned in the sea of average achievement?

It's actually quite simple. All you need is a plan, a mature attitude and a lot of passion.

Passion

I'll start with the last one. I've got a day time job and if I had to draw a comparison between this job and my hobby of writing, I would have to admit that my day time occupation is like an arranged marriage with a spouse whom I have grown to love and respect, while writing, on the other hand, is a passionate affair that has developed on the side. I can't go more than a couple of weeks without spending time with my 'lover,' and I grow increasingly frustrated, empty and sad if I can't secure a day or two to type away at my computer. If somebody paid me a dime for every minute I spent writing, I would already be a millionaire. Yet I am not rich, and I don't mind it. This is because writing is something I choose to do even though I know that most of my prose would probably never see the light of day. If this is not passion, then I don't know what is, and you need this kind of dedication to continue as an average, run of the mill writer.

Attitude

The second requirement, a mature attitude, is about gauging your writing strengths and weaknesses against the selective pool of professional work in a grown up, realistic way. Whatever your writing channel is, before you imagine a bestseller with your name on it, put your script side by side with published text and ask yourself whether it deserves the same kind of praise and recognition. Have you welded your thoughts into descriptive, interesting passages? Is your soliloquy both seductive and informative? Does it flow well? It might well be, but if it's not, then it's time for being honest with yourself and admitting that you are only average. Grieve a little if necessary, but then let it go. If you are a true writer, this shouldn't stop you. Write for yourself.

Plan

Finally, have other plans for your life. The odds are you are like me, condemned to a life of trying and not making it. So why waste away the years on something that will never come to pass? Why not assume that you will never break into the coveted world of published narrative (with any chanced breakthroughs considered a bonus rather than a sure outcome) and structure your life accordingly. Develop another career, have a family, expand your social circle. Surely these could be distracting to a writer, but at the end of the day, when your writing career does not pan out, you still have something to fall on and be proud of.

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