I've been receiving a lot of emails lately from women who identify with some of my articles. Their comments tend to be either that I'm living their dream of being a writer, or that their lifelong dream is to be a writer, which started me thinking ... what exactly is a writer? The answer is actually quite simple ... until, of course, we complicate it, but let's stick with simple for now.
Simply (and, in my opinion, correctly) defined, a writer is someone who writes. So for those of you who dream of being a writer because it's your passion, it's what you love to do, then it's hard to imagine that you haven't already accomplished your dream. If you love to write, then chances are you have written in some way, shape, or form all of your life, and therefore, by definition, you are a writer. But of course, that's the simple definition, and as we humans are prone to do, we often complicate simple things.
For example, many writers have asked me, "How can I call myself a writer if I've never had anything published?" Others have commented, "Every time I submit something to an agent or publisher, it always gets rejected." Good points ... but my message to them is that when they ask and say those things, they’ve changed what they’re defining.
Here's what I mean. When a writer starts talking about publishing and agents and getting paid for their writing, they’re no longer talking about writing. They’re talking about the business of writing. And those are two very different things with two very different definitions.
Would you define a dog and a wolf exactly the same way because they're similar? I would hope not. They're very different animals, and your risk of being attacked by one is much higher than by the other. Well, the same holds true for being a writer and being in the business of writing. They are very different animals, and it's important not to confuse the two simply because they look a lot alike. If you do, you're taking a very big chance of being eaten by a wolf that you've mistaken for a dog.
As someone who has spent time with both of these animals for many years and am still alive to tell about it, here's my advice to avoid being eaten by a wolf.
1) Writing is a very personal thing. If you write about what you love, then the rest will fall in place. If you write about "what's hot" or what you think will "sell" best, it's almost certain to fail.
2) Make sure you understand how you're defining your dream before you start pursuing it. If you want to be a writer, then that's very easy. Start writing. Write whenever you can catch a few free moments - before you go to bed, when you wake up, on your lunch break. It doesn't matter when you do it or how well you do it because you're writing for you.
3) There is no "good" or "bad" writing until you start judging it or you allow someone else judge it. In fact, if judging isn't a part of the picture, writing can be very stress-relieving, especially if you write just for the love of writing.
4) If you decide that your dream is not simply to be a writer, but to be in the business of writing, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that ... as long as you understand what that means. As I said earlier, when you’re writing to be a writer, there is no "good" or "bad" writing. However, when you submit your writing to the publishing world, that changes. You're allowing other people to judge your work (that's right, in the business of writing, it's called work), and their view of "good" and "bad" is always (yes, always) based on how many books they think they can sell or how many more readers they think they can draw in with your work. Remember, it's a business just like any other, and all businesses have to consider the bottom line. It's also one of the most competitive businesses in the world so even if you're "good" at the business of writing, you should expect to get many, many more rejections of your work than acceptances.
5) Finally, there is no reason you can't pursue two dreams at one time - being a writer and being in the business. People do it all time. In fact, I've done it and I continue to do it. But know this, if you succeed in the business and your writing (or at least some of it) switches from writing to work, then all the stress of a regular job (and usually more) are going to come with that work - demanding deadlines, working with agents and/or editors who want to change what you think is already perfect, finding the time to market your work, traveling to promote your work, expectations for more great (as defined by how many people will buy it) "work" from you, etc. Hopefully, you can see how quickly what you thought was a dream can become a nightmare, and how something that once was stress-relieving can become stress-generating if you're not prepared for it.
So to all of you who dream to be writers ... as long as you keep the wolves in check and the dogs close to your heart, I predict you'll do just fine whatever you decide!