How I Accidentally Broke Into Writing Professionally #1

I write for a living and have for about 3 years now. It was a life long dream for me to be a writer but my mother had told me as a girl that writing for a living would never bring in enough money to be able to pay the bills because the industry is too competitive. I respected what she told me but I always secretly hoped that one day I would realize my dream of writing.

I wrote the other day in a post that I had accidentally fallen into the writing profession after a conversation with a wonderful woman on an airplane while I was traveling home to see family. I didn’t realize how many people are interested in how to get started writing for a living until I made that post so I never thought to share my story until now.

How I Got Started Writing and What I Would Change If I Could Do It Over
What to Write About When You Run Out of Ideas

Keep in mind that I may have to make more than 1 post because the advice that she gave me was about 2 hours worth of active conversation.

I think I’m going to do multiple posts, a few on getting better at writing and developing your talent followed by a few on how to actually get writing gigs.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Starting a Conversation With A Stranger

I tend to start conversations with just about everyone because I like having conversations with people. Airplanes are fun places to have conversations because you don’t have to rush. You have nowhere else to be plus it helps pass the time faster!

This woman had a big planner and she had been furiously scribbling notes at first so I didn’t disturb her but I couldn’t help but be curious at what she was doing. She was an older woman, maybe in her 60s but she had a peace about her that I had never before witnessed.

She was self-assured but in a quiet way, she didn’t appear to be boastful or trying to draw attention to herself beyond her random mutterings as she pressed her pencil to her face in thought every once in a while.

Finally after about 30 minutes I couldn’t help myself anymore and asked her what she was working on. Let me tell you that I have never seen a woman smile that broadly!

She explained to me that she was a writer and that she was developing her characters for her newest book but the last character was being elusive in telling her about himself and his story. This small woman amazed me because she talked about the characters as if they were real, flesh and blood characters that she was interviewing. I had felt like that at one time in my life, where characters were vividly real in my mind.

Photo by Killian Pham on Unsplash

I explained to her that I had always wanted to be a writer but never knew how to get started so I had never tried. She actually laughed at me as I said this and said something to me that I will never forget:

“If you don’t have the balls to go out there and make your own dreams come true then you will never know true freedom. And the stories that are in your mind will never see the light of day which would be a greater tragedy than any other the world over.”

Let me tell you that every time I have wanted to quit or give up on a dream, her little face with her crazy, wiry white hair and framed by big glasses pops into my mind saying that and I sit my butt down to start writing!

Let me briefly tell you what she taught me during our interaction about writing. This first post is on getting your head right and learning how to be a better writer.

Stop Making Excuses

Everyone has excuses as to why they don’t do something that they say that they really want to do. And most people let these excuses stop them from ever trying in the first place. I had always used the excuse of my mother telling me that I would never make enough money, so I never started.

The sooner you stop making excuses, the sooner you will actually get started.

Adapt to Change

At the time of our conversation, this woman was learning how to publish her works digitally and get paid for them after more than 40 years of being a print writer. If you want the truth, I was quite impressed because my own father was much younger than her and still hadn’t mastered using his work email and would call me to ask how to do various tasks.

Her advice to me here was to learn how to get published in print and electronically because this would give me a much wider audience. And to always stay ahead on technology without being afraid to pivot as needed in order to stay ahead of the rest of the pack that wasn’t willing to adapt to change.

Technology isn’t the only thing that changes. Popular genres change too. You may start out writing in fantasy characters and then end up writing romance later on because that is what readers are wanting at that time. I have written in many genres over the past 3 years and even as a child.

Establish a Habit

A writer is someone that actually writes. If you are not writing consistently then you are not a writer. That is a plain and simple fact. If you want to get better at writing, then write. If you want to have a better grasp on your writing skills then you will have to practice and commit to getting better. There is no other way to become a better writer than to establish a habit.

Accept Criticism

This is one of the hardest things to do, to share your work with someone and be willing to accept whatever criticism they have for you. It can be hard to reveal the inner workings of your mind by sharing your writing with others. And its even harder for someone to tell you that it isn’t perfect. But, how will your writing ever reach the level of being perfect if you never accept the criticism and become better?

When I first started writing, I would argue with anyone that tried to criticize my writing because I poured my heart out and it felt like an attack for anyone to tell me how to improve my work. My parents and friends were kind in their criticism so it helped me to blossom and to become a much better writer over the years.

I still have people critique my work sometimes because I forget words here and there or just want to try to give my writing more depth. The goal of writing is to be able to touch the reader and get them to feel something or to inform or to do a little bit of both.

Schedule Your Writing Time

Carve out time every day for writing and make sure its time that is uninterrupted. This goes back to establishing a writing habit. Even if you have another full time job, if you want to start a career as a writer you have to make time so you can take it seriously. Building a side gig isn’t easy and there are other things that you could be spending your time on but if you don’t try then you will never know, right?

I will be writing more tomorrow on how to best to develop good writing habits in order to move into a professional writing career. I would love to hear some feedback or comments that you may have!

Thanks for reading,

Ivy

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