It’s Writing Monday…
Welcome back to the series on those gloomy voices that plague writers and anyone involved in any creative process.
As I explained last week, I will address one of those gloomy-gus voices each Monday. After that, we’ll continue to devote Mondays to writing and creativity. (The rest of the week? Whatever we feel like discussing!)
Gloomy Voice #2: “You Will Never Be a Real Writer.”
The truth: You don’t need a degree, a rite of passage or a dramatic moment to occur before you can call yourself a “real writer.”
First, let’s tackle that word “real.” Such a distinction suggests an opposite term, and that would have to be “fake” or “fradulant.”
There is no such thing as a fake writer. You can be a fake doctor or a fake attorney, but not a fake writer.
If you write, your writing IS real.
Now, let’s look at the word “real” combined with the word “writer.”
I used to think that my writing wasn’t” real” until it got published.
Silly me.
What that means is that I gave someone else the power to decide when I was a bonafide writer, when in actuality: (1) It wasn’t their decision to make! and (2) I have always been a writer. (Yep, it all started in fifth grade when Mrs. Flamm dubbed my horse poem as “brilliant.”)
Fast-forward many years and I was published!
Yet, I felt no more like a “real writer” than I had before. Sure, I felt validated and successful, but I didn’t see myself as more of a writer than before I was published. Further proof that I’d always been a writer.
More truth about “real” writing: If you feel like you’re being judged or pushed from within to write, then you better honor the “real” assignment.
The assignment? Yes, that’s right: an assignment from a larger source.
I’m a Christian so I firmly believe…nay, I know…that the “larger source” is God acting inside us, and He is nudging us to write.
Your desire to write is a talent. It’s a gift given to you for the benefit of the world.
Therefore, you must write because it’s one of your life’s assignments. To deny it is to deny part of what you are and what your purpose is.
And, the negative results of denying yourself will surface whether or not you believe in a source greater than yourself.
So write! And what do we call someone who writes?
Yep, we call them a writer. A “real” writer.
Next Monday: Gloomy Voice #3 – You Must Have the Entire Book (Article, Project) Thought Through Before You Write.
Historical intrigue interwoven with modern-day suspense and a touch of the mysterious.
Contemporary romantic suspense.
Coming-of-age sagas.
There are times when something strikes me so powerfully it’s as if my breath is taken away for a few seconds! You did that this morning because again through the power of the internet God spoke to my heart! It’s nothing short of a miracle when someone puts words in a computer at one time and place and in a different time and place the power of their words alters another persons course in life.
The unique thing about part two is by the time I finished reading it I had narrowed the Gloomy Voice to myself! And at the same time I find myself wondering where do I go in my career. I have a number of books self published on LULU.com I have two books published on PublishAmerica and yet I continue to feel as if I am not a writer. And I search myself for an answer – is is because I am an amateur I wonder – is it because my material lacks quality editing (out of financial reasons I edit my own stuff) – does my EGO get in the way because not many copies have been purchased.
As I continue to follow your Blog and other material on your website I am beginning to get a few answers. My own personal “Mission Statement” is “Using my imagination I will make Jesus Christ as real to as many people as I can.” However, right now it seems as if the door to my imagination is locked shut!
Thank you so much for sharing your life with me I am beginning the see Gary the Writer (alias Crusty T. Christian) in a better light.
Grace and PEACE,
Gary
ps I hope I didn’t sound dis-jointed!
Gary, you ARE a writer! Sounds like marketing your work actually may be the challenge. Perhaps you are not a marketer, a business person, a public relations expert, all of which you have to be to market your work in the publishing/Internet realm today. If so, then join the crowd! This makes you even more of a writer, as most writers are prone to creativity, not marketing. You have to wear two different hats. Just so you know, you are not alone. Almost every Christian writer says they write because God nudges them to do so, but then their egos (mine too!) makes them feel bad when they don’t sell a lot of books. When, in actuality, if you even touch one life, then wow! What an accomplishment. God will say, “Well done.” Thanks for your feedback because you give me more ideas on what to address. Together we writers will help one another and help each other grow!
Thank you for the words of encouragement they come at the very time when I am really struggling not only as a writer but in life as well. Lately I have been thinking about reformatting my books and making them available to people free of charge. My latest article on my website http://www.garypiper.net goes into more detail.
One important thing I am taking out of your advice is my need to depend more on the Holy Spirit to get my material into the hands of those who need it. I am discovering more and more that the first and foremost agenda of a Christian Writer is Jesus’ Agenda. Again your words of encouragement and advice have helped me reacquaint myself with something I’ve forgotten somewhere along the way.
Grace and PEACE,
Gary Piper