Can You Be a Writer?

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Let’s take a break from the specifics and talk about writing in general.

Sometimes people ask me why I write or how I knew I wanted to be an author or what writing is like. You’ve probably seen the memes online that depict writing as being the only thing writers are able to do. We’re compelled to it like a divine puppet master is controlling our strings. And it’s a messy process: we drink copious amounts of caffeine, spend hours trying to find the right verb, and often look like we haven’t combed our hair in weeks. Let me clarify, all of that is true, but luckily not all the time.

Being a writer might start quite innocently, a niggling idea in the back of your subconscious that you ignore for decades of your life. But maybe it always catches up to you in some way. It did for me. I guess the good news is it’s never too late to start. Often writers improve as they age, life and experience and the ability to form complete sentences being great aids in the art of writing.

When I re-read my journals as prep work for my first book, I was surprised by how often I would talk about writing or how much I loved it or that I wanted to be a writer. I actually put that as an answer on quizzes and all those weird life-preparation things you do in elementary school. As if you know what you want to be when you grow up when you have zero experience and your brain hasn’t fully developed. To be fair, some people do seem to know. Maybe I was one of them.

What I do know is that as the younger me wrote, I found myself copying what I loved to read. It makes sense, after all, I was being inspired by beauty and intelligence and imagination. But when I realized my supposedly original work too often resembled a Bob Hope movie or the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, I began to think that I had no unique words of my own to share, no stories that were fully mine. Not despairing, I plunged myself into the world of writing in other people’s playgrounds, for fun, just to ease the itch in my brain. After all, writing as an author was not exactly a guaranteed successful career move. The number of people who actually make a career out of their words is astronomically low, at least in the get rich/consistent bestseller category.

Looking back, I had more original ideas than I knew, often inspired from real life events happening to me or people around me. Some sprang out of seemingly nowhere. But I was too busy writing other things and living my life to really give credence to them. They weren’t a possible dream to fulfill, so I just made half-hearted attempts at them in middle school, or never started them at all.

But writing my first book changed my mind on all of that. I had stories, things that I knew I wanted to read. And if I could give one piece of advice to fiction writers, that would be it: write the stories you want to read. Unfortunately, no one else is going to do it for you, as all those memes will sadly validate. So if they are going to be read, they must be written. But I had a piece of work to do first, something I knew was important. And it had the double blessing of giving me the courage and inspiration to realize that I didn’t have to choose only one type of writing. 

I could write anything I wanted to. Perhaps from a marketing standpoint that might not be the wisest move, but I’ve gone from memoir non-fiction to historical Christian romance, and my genre-switching days are not over yet. I want to write spiritual allegories and delve into fantasy and science fiction. I might have a few human character study short stories swimming around in my brain. I have no idea what might be the sequence, be the process, be the timing on these. But I do know I want to write them all. I pray I have the time, resources, and inspiration to do so. I hope people read and enjoy them. I know I will.

So write. Write and read. Write even if you think you can’t do it professionally. And realize that maybe you need that period of time between twelve and thirty to practice writing just for fun. I can promise you, no one wants to read that Bob Hope movie knock-off I printed out on paper that still had the perforated edges to it. Maybe one day as a laugh and an example of growth . . .. But writing it was a start and it’s okay to be a beginner. Everyone starts there. I’m probably still there. But I’ve seen growth and change and understanding creep in to my writing. I’ve witnessed an amazing ability to format and use proper grammar (a work in progress) manifest itself. Pay attention to constructive criticism (only the constructive kind, ignore all trolls).

Maybe you won’t publish (go for it!), but keep writing like I did. And you’ll be surprised at what creativity can flow when you don’t ignore a love or a talent or that horrendous itch to get the words out of your head. What happens next? Well, I’ll let you know when I know. But the point is, writing is a process, a never-ending flow of surprise and frustration and joy. You never know what you’ll learn about yourself in the meantime. It might take years. It might not. Just so long as it takes hold in you.