Life, Words & Us

Believe it or not, people think writing is easy and anyone can be a writer. Well, yes anyone CAN be a writer, as long as they’re willing to give up certain things for it! I never thought I’d call myself a writer & to be honest, I have my doubts even today! I have realised some things that makes writing one of the toughest creative jobs! Although, creativity is tough as it is. Yet, I’ll speak only for myself today! Writing isn’t a piece of cake!

I haven’t found my writing voice yet. I don’t know what works best for me & I have no idea when I’ll follow just ONE genre to write about! As of now, I write what I am feeling! May be that’s my writing voice, PERSONAL.

The Most Personal Is The Most Creative.

– Martin Scorsese

Not every writer struggle with that though. Some of them are straight forward and damn clear about what they will write about. They don’t have to wander in the creative realm for different topics. They find their creative topics within their genre, because they know where to look & how! Well, I adore all of them! And the ones like me, who are clueless & write about WHATEVER, I understand. You’re not alone. The writers I am talking about are the emotional ones, for whom writing is their passion, not the ones who’re selling writing courses on their websites! Those aren’t writers, those are marketers.

However, the WRITERS, who have a clear head and the ones who’re clueless, have something in common. They’re WRITERS. As a writer, you have insecurities & doubts. You know it if you’re a writer, that you struggle everyday. It isn’t easy and it won’t be. EVER.

20 Reasons Why Writing Is Frightening:

#1 Writer’s Block. Already scary, isn’t it! I have this almost every month!! Running out of words, will & intention to write anymore!!

#2 Creative Block. Similar to #1 but not exactly that. It’s about running out of topics to write about. Especially, if you’re into “I want to write something different” thing!

#3 Exhaustion. I won’t say writers are untouchable to exhaustion! Even the most passionate ones get exhausted once in a while! And just like every other creative person, we take a break and recharge our brain.

#4 Fear. You can be the most fearless person in the room, yet right before you hit publish for a blog post or a book, you’ll be anxious. After hitting publish, you’ll be in fear of non-acceptance. Your words matter to you, but will they matter to your audience?!

#5 Expectations. Expectations to over do our previous write-ups, previous books or previous hits! Expectations that with each post, you become a better writer, even if nobody tells you so. For a writer, expectations to be better than your yesterday self are so high, that sometimes we forget that the reality will always belong to us anyway!

#6 Statistics. For a writer, stats is like sugar addiction! You know it’s going to harm you, yet you consume it everyday. Even multiple times a day! How many hits my blog got, how many people liked my post, how many people visited my site! And don’t get me started with a book statistics! If you’ve published a book, you know it!

#7 Authenticity. The most fearful times for writers are the question of authenticity. Plagiarism is a BIGGEST BANE in writing community. First of all, if you copy someone else’s work and DON’T give them credit, STOP CALLING YOURSELF A WRITER. You’ll never be one. All a writer ever wants, is for people to respect his/her words and appreciate the effort he/she has put in to write something! Any article we write is like our baby! So please love it and respect the effort!

#8 Competition. Writing is the most competitive form of work. Someone had to say it, and I am not afraid to. If you’re a writer, you have to face and accept the fact that there is immense competition in the industry. Almost, everyone’s trying to be a blogger, a creator, a writer, an author and on top of that, they may be doing it better than you. As much as internet has helped everyone to showcase their talents, it has also cluttered the way to be on top!

#9 Multi-Tasking. Writing is not just one job. You have to be a writer, a marketer, a social media manager, basically an expert of the online world to promote your brand and words to as many people as possible. Thankfully, writing community is extremely supportive of each other.

#10 Currency. Writing doesn’t pay unless you spend some of money to be seen and heard in the crowd! Ads, Domains, Website services, Promotions, Book publishing !! All of this happens BEFORE we start earning a single penny, which by the way, is not sure to be within your pocket anytime soon! It takes months or years even!

#11 Vulnerability. A writer is vulnerable when he/she writes about personal experiences. As I mentioned earlier, My writing voice is PERSONAL. The most personal is the most creative but it has its downside. It’s hard to show your inner-most feelings to the world and not get judged! Yet, a good writer knows how to portray it in a decent way, but a great writer – Just Doesn’t Care. A Great Writer knows the value of true & authentic self portrayal.

#12 Joblessness. If you’ve opted writing as your full-time job, for others, its not really a job. People think you don’t have a source of income and you’re wasting your time on this writing bit, because there’s so much competition already! How’re you ever going to beat that! It can make a writer discouraged and demotivated. But we keep going, because it’s what we want to do and we believe in ourselves. We won’t stop until we make it work.

#13 Mental Health. Writers read A LOT! Other writer’s content, topics that interests us, research that can help with their own work, books. Writer’s also READ BETWEEN THE LINES. Most of the writers are empathetic and compassionate. They share their feelings on their blog and the deepest feelings in a diary, and so, they have hard time sharing in real life. They listen to others and all of this listening, reading, not sharing takes a toll on their mental health- on a daily basis.

#14 Consistency. A continuous pressure cooker!! To write more, if possible, everyday. If not, then thrice a week. To keep posting ANYTHING so that people don’t forget about the blog ! To keep up with the competitors, because they write EVERYDAY!! Well, Brutus not everyone can write everyday!

#15 Social-Life. When you become a writer, you naturally tend to cut off with people because of your schedules and lack of time! NO! The truth is not that. A writer is socially off, even when he/she is with people, because they’re making notes in the head about what they’re going to write next which is inspired from this very event. They’re so into it, that they don’t enjoy much or even gel well with others. Their brain is running at 125kmh! So, they have fewer friends and they zone out more often. They’re basically introverts of the creative world!

#16 Opacity. A writer wants to be transparent but it’s quite not possible for them to be it! They’re naturally opaque. They will not show their true selves to anyone, because their true self reflects in their words and in real-life, they are NOT their words. Because the words are the safer space for a writer to be him/herself. Their writings are transparent but their lives are opaque.

#17 Distractions. Just like now, I typed this heading and started using Instagram ! Social media distractions are the worst. But they’re with everyone. A writer is distracted with anything! A writer needs a personal space, a quite environment and some alone time to write the best. Otherwise, It just blows off well!

#18 Romance. No, romance is not a distraction for a writer. But the problem is, romance is basically content. Not everyone supports that. So if you ever commit to a writer, be prepared to be the show stopper! Most writers write about their personal experiences, that includes love- BIG TIME. Either you can support that, or get annoyed! Sorry, can’t help it!

#19 Giving Up. Not on writing, NO! Giving up on some other things they love doing. Because if our minds are into multiple things, we’ll probably blow it off with everything we do. So, if want to write, you have to give up on your other passions! Not that you can’t practice them once in a while. You have to, its rejuvenating. But work on one thing and let go of the rest! It’s really hard though.

#20 Self-Doubt. Writers have self-doubts regarding everything. Every word they write, every step they take forward, every book they publish, every feedback they get, everyday when words don’t visit, every time someone says “get a job”, every now & then, a writer doubts him/herself, if he/she’s doing the right thing! If he/she’ll ever get where they’ve aimed or more! But what keeps them going, is the one thing they started for – They Love To Write.

While writing the start of this post, I didn’t have a writing voice. Now, I do. Like I said, My writing voice is personal. I found it while writing this personal article, to share it with whomever needs to know it! Writing isn’t as easy, as it looks. If you still want to keep writing, then never stop, because you love it too much to give up.

Thanks for reading. Namaste.

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