ISWG: Writing Expectations vs. Reality: What I Know Now as a Writer

 

Back when I started writing, it was typewriters or pencils.

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. Perhaps the spark ignited with my first story at age six, or my fourth-grade teacher saying she knew she'd see my books on a shelf someday. Thank you, Mrs. Pemberton! But I always knew that writing would be part of my life. 

However, when I started writing in earnest in my late 20s, I had some interesting thoughts and expectations.

 
1. It would be easy to be a writer and a mom at the same time. I had visions of having my own office, and kids slipping in and out to talk to me throughout the day, and still somehow getting my writing time in. 

 
2.  I would be different than the millions of writers who get a ton of rejection slips and take a long road to publishing. 

 
3.  I would make a lot of money at writing. Although I’ve never been able to stop other people from making this assumption.

 
4.  I would be instantly famous.

 

Let’s see how it really turned out.

 

How I write now--or at least edit. Oh, the joys of modern life!

 
1.  Being a mom and a writer or having a full-time job on top of writing is really hard. I try to make sure my family is a priority, so that often means writing at odd times like nights when they were young and early mornings before work when I was still teaching.

 

2.  The road to publication has been long, but I've enjoyed the journey more than I expected. It was about five years before I got my first nonfiction acceptance, and nearly twenty years before I saw my fiction in print. Learning to write takes time. I continue to improve, there is always be something new to learn.

As Hemmingway said, “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” 

3.  Very few people get rich off writing. I know there are some who do. But my experience is similar to something I read this week in a comment or blog post (I can't find the exact source!). My paraphrase: “Little Women isn’t sad because Beth dies, but because Jo made $100 off her first story and writing wages haven’t increased since then.” *

 
4.  Well, as I am still not famous, I think we can rule that one out.

 
How about you? What did you think writing would be like vs. what it really is like?

Writing News:

 

My first nonfiction article is now on Barnes and Noble as an audio-read! 

Photo of typewriter by Florian Klauer on Unsplash

Photo of laptop by Christin Hume on Unsplash  

 

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