To be a writer write

I’m a sucker for soundbites (and Twitter is great for those, with its 140 character restraint)!  Some are funny but true, e.g. “My mind often wanders…and sometimes it leaves completely”, but my favourites are the ones that challenge and/or inspire me.

Two have been particularly thought-provoking recently.  The first was a tweet from Nicky Gumbel who said “It’s never too late to be the person you’re supposed to be”.  

I often feel that I’m trying to become a published writer too late, having missed years of opportunities and not really standing a chance against younger, but more experienced, writers.  It’s far too easy to regret not having got more serious about writing sooner and think about all the years when I haven’t got on with it, rather than grabbing hold of the fact that it’s never too late to try.  I’m terrible at thinking “one day I’ll…”  Then you get to a certain age and realise that there might be less “one days” ahead of you than you think, so you really need to get on and do something about whatever it is you want to do something about!!

Anyway, perhaps I’ll be a better writer now than I would have been, because I have so much more knowledge and life experience, lol ;-)

The other challenging comment, kinda via my Oxford tutor, was “if you want to be a writer write.”

When you first start out being a writer it’s really hard to know when it’s okay to start calling yourself a writer.  Some people say that you should call yourself a writer and then it will hopefully be self-fulfilling.  Some say you’re not a writer until you’re published.  But actually the bottom line is that you are only a writer (noun) if you actually write (verb) and ideally on a daily basis.

Ouch!  I constantly struggle to find time to actually write!  I want to do it.  I’m productive when I do do it.  But SO many things fight for my time and writing is invariably the main thing that gets squeezed out :-(  I recently set myself the challenge of writing for a minimum amount of time every day.  That went well until I started having to sort out our house ready to move (again!). Now I haven’t had the opportunity to write for days and I’m very frustrated about that.  For now, I’m just going to have to grit my teeth, get through the next crazy week and then get stuck in again properly and quickly.  If I’m going to be a writer then I’m clearly gonna have to fight back against the other things that steal my time away.

Although I may not be able to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard currently, my brain is still able to play with ideas and compose scintillating prose while I pack boxes and paint walls :-)  Thankfully, imagination is not bound by the necessities of everyday living!