This week I’ve been having several conversations with people who are concerned that they’re not doing “what it takes” to be a writer. When I ask what they’re doing (or not doing) I get answers along these lines: “I’m not writing enough.” or “I’m not working on my writing every day.” or “My work isn’t good enough.”
Self-doubt is a fine (and common) thing to move through as a writer, and I like to point out that many of the benchmarks that these folks are reaching for are not written in stone. There are many writers who don’t write every day. (I happen to be one of them.) While it’s important to show up to the page “regularly”, you get to decide what regularly means. You also get to determine what “enough” writing is for you – and it’s invariably going to be different from someone else’s version of “enough”. As for quality, “good” work is subjective. Do you like every play, TV show or film that you see? (I certainly don’t). If it got produced and shown – somebody liked it. That doesn’t mean you have to. What one person hails as “brilliant” another considers to be “uninspired”. All you have to do is ask a series of people to find out that everyone’s got an opinion and that opinions can be all over the map.
In the world of creativity, artists are often determined to see themselves as sub-par. We want to get better at what we do – but that doesn’t mean we should beat ourselves up and claim we’re not worthy.
Let’s look at the way other professions view themselves.
If you’re a doctor, you went to med school and have treated patients. But that doesn’t mean you have to have treated a certain number of patients or that you have to be treating a patient NOW to be considered a doctor. Even retired doctors are still doctors. Same for lawyers. If you go to law school and pass the bar, you’re a lawyer. You don’t have to be in court, or work for a firm. If you’re currently doing more painting than law, you’re still a lawyer. We don’t play fast and loose with “what makes a lawyer” the way we do with writers, or actors or artists of any kind. If you do it and have done it – you get the right to be called writer. A writer is one who writes. Is that you? If yes, then get on with it.
Here’s another view: some famous writers have only written one piece. Margaret Mitchell, for example, wrote Gone With the Wind and no other books. Did she write every day? Did she write “enough”? Who knows? Who cares? If she spent 15 minutes a week working on that book over the course of 6 years, she’d still be the artist she is. If she wrote for 8 hours a day for 7 days a week for two years – it wouldn’t impact what we know about her after the fact. She wrote a book that became well known and revered. We’re not concerned about her writing habits – or critiquing how “real” she is. We call her a writer and we leave it at that.
If you’re giving yourself a hard time about how “real” a writer you are, I urge you to let that go.
Rather than being locked in that theoretical discussion, sit down and actually write. 5 minutes counts. 1 minute counts. It all counts. Just do the work – whatever that means to you – and accept the title. You’re as real as they come.
For more reflections on the writing life, read the blog or reach out.
