Good morning, cyberspace! Pardon the construction dust–the blog has a new look! Recently, I met up with one of my dear friends to set up her brand new blog, and just the simple process of site design and counteracting a few technical glitches made me realize how much I longed to make my space something I craved coming back to. 24 hours and a few more tech issues later, not only had I helped my friend get her blog on the precipice of its inaugural launch, but I’d shifted my own blog into what you see now; a space for creatives to come, to connect, to belong.

I’m so excited for this next step in my writing journey, and I’m even more excited to see what else is in store around the bend.

Today’s post is for all my people out there who hesitate to call themselves a writer. The people who fiddle with words, but haven’t written anything they deem “important” or “groundbreaking” yet. The people who find themselves stuck in a creative rut or who perhaps haven’t yet started.

If you can relate, then this one is for you.

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YOU’RE A WRITER IF…

YOU’RE JUST STARTING OUT

Every writer has to start somewhere, but what happens when you’re a new writer who’s just starting out? No manuscripts. No short stories. Nothing in your arsenal to say “look! Look at this weird little thing I just created!”

Unfortunately for you, I have good news and bad news, my darling newb.

The Good News: you’re a writer. Congratulations! You’ve been bitten by the write bug. Even if you’re starting your first book today and you’ve only written 100 words, you are well on your way to becoming the author of my next favorite book series.

The Bad News: you have unlocked the Pandora’s Box, my friend. From here on out, it’s a downhill spiral. Plot, plan, outline, draft, revise, rinse and repeat. This is your life from here on out, but don’t worry. You’re a writer. This kind of thing is in your blood now.

YOU HAVEN’T YET PUBLISHED A BOOK

Every writer dreams of that “look, mom, I made it!” moment. When against all odds stacked against us, we finally have that precious, beautiful book in our hands stamped with the approval of a publishing house–or ourselves and our editor. That’s the dream. The break. The moment when we stop fooling around with words on a page and become… a writer.

I’ve spent years counteracting this lie.

I feel like everyone says it, but no one actually believes it (at least, none of us little people with a pile of dusty manuscripts and no actual books to our name believe it). The Big Guys with their 6+ figure book deals and their thriving Patreons and butlers have it a bit easier: you are a writer whether or not you are published. Truly, the definition is in the name. A writer is one who writes, not one who publishes–that, of course, would be an author which we’re also not. So it doesn’t matter that you don’t have a book out. It doesn’t matter that the only person who’s read your manuscript so far are your stuffed animals at 3 in the morning when you need advice on a plot hole. What matters is that you’re writing. Write consistently. Write not consistently. It doesn’t matter as long as the words are being put on the page.

(and hey! if you write a comment on this post, that technically counts as writing, too!)

YOU AREN’T WRITING CONSISTENTLY

My friends and I have a writing group that meets once a week at a local coffee shop. These meetings are a very special part of my week, partly because I get to see my friends, and partly because it means that for a solid two hours, we are being consistent about our writing.

More often than not, these also happen to be the only two hours in the week I prioritize for writing. My writing routine is not consistent right now. My job gets crazyyyy in the summer (fellow children’s librarians will understand this), and I haven’t had a consistent schedule for at least three months. Sometimes that’s just how it is. Sometimes, writing just does not happen no matter how hard you want it to.

And that’s okay.

A consistent writing routine is just one tiny little part of the writing process. There are so many other parts to it–experiencing life, brainstorming, learning new skills, developing ideas, consuming other stories that inspire you… You will never find the perfect formula for a writing routine. Ever. You can try until you’re blue in the face and your fingers are numb, but no matter how hard you try, there will always be someone else out there more consistent than you and capable of writing far more words than you. It’s just a fact. So stop beating yourself up about not being consistent, and instead invest that energy into your writing.

YOU FEEL LIKE AN IMPOSTER

I don’t know that any other job carries the weight of imposter syndrome like being a writer does. At every turn of the process, a new case of imposter syndrome lurks around the corner, waiting to launch out and grab you.

You don’t write enough.

You don’t write well enough.

You don’t know how to start a story like this author.

You don’t know how to end a story like that author.

Someone else is better at foreshadowing.

You’re not Brandon Sanderson.

The list goes on and on. Truth is, we need to start calling these out for what they are–lies. That’s really all they are. A big hunk of fat, steaming lies, ready to ruin all of our creativity and put a damper on our day. I believe Brandon Sanderson said it best when he remarked, “No one can write like Terry Pratchett–not even Terry Pratchett.”

(I feel like this was said on his podcast, Intentionally Blank? I can’t find the exact quote, so it’s possible this never actually happened.)

But the fact remains that this is true whether or not you want to believe it: no one else can write like you. And, in comparison, even you cannot write now what you’ll be capable of writing in the future. You have so much to learn about and grow in. You have so much potential in just being who you were created to be. Why on earth would you try, even for a moment, to be someone else?

YOU’RE FAMOUS

So you’ve published a hundred books and everyone and their mother knows your name. Your book is the gift that someone is over the moon excited to receive for Christmas. You’ve hit the New York Times Bestseller list.

First of all–congratulations! Second of all–why are you here?

Anyway. Here’s something I don’t think a lot of the Little Guys think about before striking it big–the after. What happens after you’ve “made it”? What happens when you don’t have anywhere else to go? What happens when everyone knows your name and there are youtubers and bloggers and podcasters trying to imitate your writing routine so that they, too, can be an overnight success?

The simple answer–you keep writing. What else are you going to do? Relax in the fact that you never have to pick up a pencil again? Pretend like you’ll be content to stop writing? Ha. There’s a reason you started this career in the first place, and that’s because you need to write. It’s deeply ingrained in you, forever tugging your fingertips to the pen and your butt to the chair. You are a writer, my friend, and even when you’ve “made it”, even when you receive the accolades and the praises and the stamp on your book jacket that marks you as a bestseller of something or other–even then, you will continue to do what you’ve always done.

Because at the end of the day, the Big Guys and the Little Guys all sit down with their notebooks and their pens and do the exact same thing.

We write.

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let’s talk!

What are some of the biggest fears you face when it comes to being a writer?