As a writer, this shit is exhausting. Writing can be completely and totally draining sometimes and I’m not talking in the same way as writing a college paper is. I really don’t even know where to start with this. I guess I’ll say this first, I love writing, it’s the thing I’m best at. I wouldn’t say I’m anything spectacular, but I’m good. I know what I’m doing, how to get shit done, and that I’m worthy of being published. That being said, it’s a process to get to that published piece, which I feel people don’t understand.
As much as I’d love to be able to sit down and bang out 4 articles in 4 hours, that’s not really how writing works. It takes a shitton of time and effort to write the perfect piece, or at least what I consider to be publishable. It takes so much time sometimes just to get here, right here in this second paragraph, that I’m about ready for a nap, especially when I’m writing about writing.
It’s so hard to put into words the love/hate relationship I have with this field I’m going into. I love writing, I really do, but I often wonder if I’ll ever have my shit together enough to make it. Just like any field, it’s difficult to get your foot in the door as someone fresh out of college. I’m not even there yet, I still have 2 more years. But even now, it’s hard to get people to even let you write as an intern. The teacher that got me into journalism in high school started out writing obituaries, so you really take whatever you can get as long as your name gets out there.
I feel like people think you can just bring something you’ve written, be it an article, a novel, a poetry book, anything, and someone will publish it right away. What they don’t see is us, the authors, getting ripped a whole new soul when these editors don’t like something we’ve worked so hard on. It’s hard to just “get back on the horse” because what they just basically shit on, could have taken years to complete. How do you pick yourself up after that? Just think about turning in the best paper you’ve ever written for a class and then actually getting a C. Even that doesn’t compare only because you have to take that same book to multiple publishers and have each and every one scrutinize it in a different way.
It’s so difficult to keep saying that I love this and that being a writer is what I want to do with my whole life. I don’t write because I think it’ll make me crazy amounts of money, because most of the time it doesn’t, I write just so people can read it and relate to something I’m saying. I think that’s another difficult part; just opening up and hoping that people will like it and connect to your words.
I never expected any job I went into to be easy. I didn’t choose to write because it’d be easy. I just do it because I enjoy it. It’s nerve wracking having people judge your every word, but I signed up for this. When you write a paper or something for a class, more often than not, the only person reading it is your professor. Obviously, as a “real” writer that’s not the case. You don’t know how many people are going to see the things you’ve written and also judge you for it. It’s terrifying to think about already.
More and more people are self-publishing their work and honestly, I think it’s a really smart route to take. Rupi Kaur, author of the famous poetry book Milk and Honey, self-published that. She did that! I can do that! I think a lot of people are tired of going through that heartbreak of being told what they’ve produced isn’t good enough that they’re just doing it themselves.
Writing, not matter what kind it is, is a shitton more work than a lot of people think. There’s so many ups and downs just to get the words out in the first place and readers don’t see that. It sucks but it’s true.
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