“People on the outside think there's something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn't like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that's all there is to it.” – Harlan Ellison, Born May 27, 1934.
So you want to be a writer?
If you're following me, maybe you want to write marketing copy, or you want to write content, or you want just make a living writing essays and shit for your audience like I do.
So let me ask you…
How much did you write today? What did you write today? How about yesterday? What are you planning to work on tomorrow?
Do you even have the fucking chops to be a writer?
I type 45 words per minute with my thumbs. And I publish something somewhere every single day.
Not for fun. For money. I mean, it's fun, too. But this shit is how I feed my family.
Because we professionals are not playing. It's not a game.
We are either working and training and we are writing every day, usually for hours a day.
The trick is only in finding a way to get paid for it, because the fact is, most of us would be writing anyway even if we weren't highly paid professionals. We can't help it.
So it's one thing to entertain the idea – “oh, I could be a writer. Oh, I want to be a writer one day. I have so many ideas. I just need the time to sit down and write them down…”
Is that you?
Let me break a brutal truth to you right now.
If you're not already writing – putting in the time, almost involuntarily – then saying you want to write doesn't mean shit. It won't ever become shit.
You want to be a writer? Write. Now.
Even better: publish. Right now. And tomorrow. And every fucking day until you die.
Or else, you're not a writer. Period.
You're a dreamer that imagines being a writer while you're doing something else that you'll do until the day you die.
Sit down behind the keyboard and fucking write. Publish it. Try to get your readers to do shit that gets you paid, like click ads, buy stuff, buy your books, or someone else's products, whatever. Do it.
Just fucking do it. Or else don't, and shut up about it.
Agree? Then go write something.
Or don't. Your choice.
What's to discuss?