Eight days ago, I pulled up my blog and saw that I hadn't posted that week. Not only that, but I hadn't written anything for the two books I've committed to writing, and I only wrote one sentence for a story due for my class on Monday.
That got me thinking. It took me a long time to think of myself as a writer. Do you have to be published be a writer? What do you have to produce to be a writer?
I remember a writing instructor said: A writer is someone who writes. My mother scoffed at that, but she didn't understand the self-doubt.
This week I wondered can I be a writer if I only wrote one sentence this week? I don't want to know the answer. I can say I did 1.5 hours research on one book. I can say I scribbled about three pages of journaling to work through a blog post about schedules and planning. But I never wrote that post.
On Monday, I read this from a daily email I get from A.Word.A.Day:
”Working” has a different meaning for writers. If you are a writer, writing doesn’t necessarily mean typing away on a keyboard or scribbling on a piece of paper. Writing happens when you are walking or taking a shower or pulling weeds in the backyard. Simply staring out a window also works. Once your writing is done, you just need to dump it on a sheet of paper or into a computer.
I don't agree with that. Yes, I get several ideas when walking Lola. In fact, I've written almost full stories on our walks. I've also thought about stories, gotten ideas, and worked out problems while doing chores, or staring out windows. That's great, but these things don't really count if they don't get dumped on a sheet of paper or into a computer.
I need to actually write, or it doesn't count.
No comments:
Post a Comment