I've been reading a lot of blogs lately written by other writers about how to get into a "habit" or "routine" of writing at the same time every day or every other day. I'm terrible at this, because my life changes from day to day. I have begun to view my writing more as a job as time has gone by, though, and I feel that has motivated me to write more steadily.
Many people consider themselves to be "aspiring writers", like they're trying to achieve some level of relevance that depends on people outside of themselves. I'm not an aspiring writer, I'm a writer. You can read that last sentence as, "I'm a writer, period." Do you know why I can say that? Because I typed these words out, and you're reading them. Of course, I don't think someone else necessarily has to read your work for you to consider yourself as a writer, any more than whether or not you're a gardener depends on someone else walking through your backyard to view the plants you've worked for hours to cultivate. If you do gardening, you're a gardener. If you write words, you're a writer. Even if what you write has never been seen by another pair of eyes aside from the ones that are in your own head.
I think this small change of thinking from "aspiring writer" to "writer, period" has helped me. My whole life, from the time I was sixteen years old, has been filled with me going to work in some building or another, or at least logging into my computer at a time set by someone else, to get a paycheck. This was the case right up until about three months ago. Now it's purely up to me whether or not I produce on a given day. Funny thing is, it's ALWAYS been that way, ever since I got my first job as a teenager. It was up to me to decide whether or not I was going to show up when I was supposed to, and to decide if I was going to actually work while I was there.
The only thing that's changed now is that I won't be officially fired for failing to produce. Back then, if I wanted a paycheck, I had to earn it. Today, for me to have any expectation of getting a paycheck, I'll have to produce. The only difference is that I've decided to make and move my own widgets rather than someone else's. Although my widgets (words on the page) are easier to move (read: electronic transmission, potentially globally, at the push of a button) they take much more energy personally on my part to produce, and absolutely NOTHING will happen without my own personal effort.
Wasn't it Uncle Ben who said, "With great power comes great responsibility"? Well, with great freedom comes even greater responsibility. Now, I can't just show up somewhere and mindlessly move widgets from one side of the building to the other for eight or ten hours at a stretch. Instead, I have to dream up the widget, and figure out how to design it and describe it so others can recognize and understand what that particular widget looks like. Then I have to physically spell it out by pounding the keys on whatever keyboard I choose to use at the time. Only then can I transmit it to people like you, who hopefully like what I have to say, and tell their friends and family to check out what This Aaron Guy just transmitted out to the world.
Being a writer isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination, but it's the most fulfilling thing I've found to do in my four plus decades on this spinning rock that I currently inhabit. Don't sell yourself short by calling yourself an "aspiring" writer, or gardener, or dog walker, or whatever it is that you want to be. If you've taken the plunge and you're going through the same actions that other write-ers, garden-ers, or dog walk-ers go through each day, then you, too, are officially a writer, gardener, or dog walker. Even if you haven't seen that first paycheck. Even if not a single person has read what you've written, walked through your garden, or had their dog walked by you.
So, what, exactly are your aspirations? If you want to see what's over the next hill, at some point, you're gonna have to head over in that direction. No matter what someone else thinks about your desire to see it. Why are you going to let someone else dictate how far you can go? Or tell you what you are? Or what you are not?
Until next time, stay safe, and above all, be true to yourself.
That Aaron Guy
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