A Writer's Life

This blog post is going to be interesting, and it's geared towards those who are starting out in their writing.

Today, I'm going to talk about the hard truths of the life of a writer. I'm also going to be comparing that to how writers are portrayed on TV and how many people view them.

Writing is a harder job than you think.

Even for experienced writers, you all know the life of a writer is not what you expect when you decide to take part in it.

The truth is, being a writer is always harder than you think it will be.

Normally, when we start writing, we're rather young and don't really know much about the writing world. (This still applies to those of you who started writing later in life.) It might seem simple at first. After all, all writers do is write books, right? How hard can that be?

We've all probably thought that at one point in our lives, whether it was as a kid or as an adult. And we all probably know, by now, that writing is much more than that.

And it's really hard.

Is writing portrayed accurately on TV?

I've seen writing portrayed on both sides of the accuracy spectrum. Some good, some bad.

The problem is, you can't get an accurate understanding of what writing is by watching a movie or a TV show that happens to be about a writer.

Let me give you an example of a movie plot that doesn't give you the full picture: the rom-coms that contain struggling writers. Usually in these movies, the writer finds the love interest and is suddenly able to write again just like that.

While this could happen to some people, and the main character could just be really inspired because of said love interest, this doesn't actually happen that often. At least from what I've seen, it takes a lot more prodding than suddenly meeting a good looking guy for your writing mojo to return.

But I'm not critiquing any movies for making this their plot. Why? Because movies don't show every second of the main character's life. There could be nothing wrong with the plot because they're not showing every second of work the main character is putting in to getting over the writer's block.

While it can come across to the viewers of the show that they just magically cured it by meeting a love interest, because the movie isn't going over every detail of that writer's life, you can't know for sure what went into the writing process. While it might seem like their book magically appeared after meeting the love interest, there was probably a lot more work to create it than the movie showed.

The only problem with this is that it can give viewers an unrealistic idea of writing.

Writer's block is a struggle. There are times when it's easy to overcome and times when it's really, really hard to overcome.

A lot of times on TV, it can seem either super hard to overcome or super easy to overcome.

But I wouldn't say that's completely the movie's fault. I'd say that's just the limits of what can be put into a movie given the time constraints (and because it might not be the most interesting thing for viewers to sit and watch a person stare at a blank page for hours).

The bottom line is you can't get a good look at what writing is on TV. You have to know someone who does it personally or experience it yourself to understand what it's like.

So is writing portrayed accurately on TV?

The short answer is relatively yes.

The long answer is, they sometimes don't show the nitty gritty parts of writing or just give you a little peek into them. That doesn't mean it's being portrayed inaccurately, it just means they're not giving you the full picture.

And guys, it's not a rom-com's (or whatever type of movie's) job to give you a full run down on what writing is. That's why I'm here.

What's a basic picture of a writer's life?

This is a really hard thing to explain. Just as I said earlier, you have to know someone who writes or experience writing yourself for you to really understand what it's like.

But I'll do my best to tell you.

A writer is someone who has a million people and stories trapped in their head; although, at times it can feel like they've lost every single one of them—say hello to writer's block.

Writers spend their time getting lost in the dark pit of research and writing one word at a time. Some writers might have set schedules as to when they write, some don't.

Many also work a different job. Not everyone's lucky enough to be a full time writer.

This means juggling time to write, time to relax, and time to work can be stressful.

Then there are the times where no matter how hard the writer tries, they can't transfer a single word to a page.

And whenever that happens, they have to decide whether to try and get out of it, or to procrastinate. (Procrastination is a good friend of writers.)

A writer's life is not easy. We mourn for fictional people, slave over the creation of make believe character's lives, and have to make sure we actually are writing and not just daydreaming about our story or having conversations with the million different characters living in our head.

This would be the picture I'd give you of a writer's life.

Making time to write is a lot more important than you think.

You might be scoffing at this statement, or nodding your head emphatically, but either way, this statement is true.

You have to make time to write.

This is something you really don't think about when you're first starting out as a writer.

It's so necessary though.

Life is busy. Many times, we have so much stuff going on that we can feel like we can't find the time to write.

But like I said in another blog post, you don't "find" the time to write, you make it.

You have to set aside time so that you can write. And make sure to set a good amount of time. You'll probably be staring at the screen or notebook for a good while thinking before you actually write.

If you want to learn more about balancing writing with your schedule and how to make time to write, read my blog post, "The Writing Muscle", where I go over this and a lot more.

As a writer, you're going to struggle with writing.

This is the worst part of being a writer.

The writing can be so difficult.

"A writer is one to whom writing comes harder than to anybody else."

- Thomas Mann

This quote is actually quite accurate. It always seems that writing is harder for a writer than anyone else.

That means writers have to have incredible determination and perseverance to finish and publish a book. And if a writer doesn't have that, they will almost certainly gain it—eventually.

Don't be discouraged by the hardships of writing.

I truly believe there are only some people who were called to write literature.

Not everyone has fifty-million different worlds and characters in their head, guys.

If you are one of the people who enjoy writing or feel like you need to write, don't let anything or anyone stop you from doing so.

As a writer, you have one of the coolest jobs ever! You get to create entire worlds and people and stories that come from your imagination, and you get to take people to those places with only words as their tour bus.

Without writers, what would our world be like?

It'd be so boring, wouldn't it?

We wouldn't have make-believe places to escape to or fictional characters to befriend. We wouldn't even know our history if we didn't have those who wrote it down.

Writing is such an important job. Never let anyone make you feel as though it's not.

And if anyone says that, remind them that someone had to write the books they've read or had read to them as kids.

So, even though it's hard being a writer, don't give up. You've got this.

And whenever you feel discouraged, simply picture being at your own book signing or holding a copy of your published story in your hand. That reward is worth all of the blood, sweat, and tears you'll shed in the process of writing.

I hope you enjoyed today's blog post. If you have any questions or comments, shoot me a message in the contact box below.

Happy writing!

-Jocelyn