I am both a professional writer and a novel writer.
You think that I should just say I’m a professional novel writer, right?
Well, I can’t. I’m not. Well, I could say it, but it would be fiction. And I am a fiction writer.
So, how does that work?
The deal is that, while I am writing two different novels, I’ve never published or been paid to write a novel.
And while I am paid regularly to write, thus making me a professional, I am paid to write posts and columns and get remunerated for the odd short story, poem, or song … but no novels.
Not yet.
Odd ….
Yes, the odd thing is, that I have had enough time to have written more than the two novels I’m working on. Enough time to have completed them and more.
And what has kept me from doing just that? Well, I usually tell myself that I am not really feeling it, not really ready to write.
I seem to allow myself to labour under the misconception that I need to be in a certain mood or frame of mind. Or, I suppose the more accurate term would be that I allow myself to not bother to labour due to that misconception.
And is that really a misconception?
Well, I believe it is. And I believe that because, when I have to write for my professional work, which is every day, I just sit down and do it.
Am I in a bad mood? I still sit down and write my column called “Today I Love…!” Finding myself feeling distracted and inattentive? That’s no excuse for me to skip writing my column on ADHD.
And just because I’ve written two other posts already, and have two more at least to go, is no excuse for me to skip writing my post for here on Ascribe.
What’s the secret?
I’ve mentioned this before, writing is a mechanical thing. It is simply the act of recording your thoughts while they are flowing. People who say they “don’t write” are actually telling you that they never record their thoughts, not that they are incapable of having thoughts.
I guess, in the final analysis, they’re saying that they don’t believe their thoughts are worthy of being recorded. But they shouldn’t be judging that. Let readers read what they want, everyone should write.
And the best way to do it is to start by writing down your assertion you don’t write, and explaining why.
Ha, tricked you!
So if I’m saying that all I have to do is sit down and start, what’s my excuse for not having worked on my novel for a while? I guess I don’t really have one, do I?
So now I have at least two more blog post articles to write, and some novel writing to do.
I’d better wrap this up
Yeah, I’m bailing on you. But before I go, I want to tell you that it is this easy. Just write. Don’t worry about what you write so much as that you write. The problems with what you write are editing’s territory, and I’ve never heard anyone say, “I don’t edit.”
And if you try this and find that you think I’m not being truthful, that you believe you actually don’t write, well … you can come back to this post and explain to me how you still don’t write. Just write it in a comment.
