So, you want to be a writer?
The first thing that you might consider doing is start to write regularly.
What you’ve probably done is what most aspiring authors tend to do; search on the internet for advice on ‘how to be a successful writer’.
The search engine usually throws up lists of well-known authors (copied by multiple bloggers) sharing the wisdom of their writing lives.
How much you should write a day seems to be at the top of these lists, and that shouldn’t surprise us. Put simply, ‘You can’t edit a blank page.’1
Unfortunately, how much a serious writer should aim to write often appears to degenerate into an egotistical, farcical, some might say mythical discussion about the prowess of certain authors who could write thousands of words a day, freehand, whilst simultaneously learning to play the bagpipes and challenging Joe Davis to a game of snooker.
If you think I mean Steve Davis, then you’re probably as old as me but not quite into snooker as much as I am. If you think the previous paragraph was way too long and would benefit from a couple more commas, read on, comrade.
Perhaps those of us that wish to become professional writers might benefit from just taking ourselves and our craft seriously? ‘No more farting about,’ as we say in the English Midlands.
If you write as a hobby – as a form of recreation – fantastic. It doesn’t mean that you can’t be a successful writer.
Read any of the above-mentioned blogs, and it won’t take long for you to hear about J.K. Rowling penning Harry Potter whilst having a full-time job and being a single mum. Stephen King was working as a janitor when he wrote his breakthrough novel, Carrie.
What they had – which most of us lack, including me – was the determination to write no matter what other time pressures weighed upon them.
I’m a one-trick pony. It’s all or nothing.
Nothing other than writing.
Part of the reason for my declaration of intent, is buying and reading Antony Johnson’s The Organised Writer. It’s great.
There’s a website. It’s great.
Jolyon Walford 