"Find your own way": Getting Started on Your Writing Journey

Starting as a writer was not as straightforward as I thought it would be. I had to find my way to it, in my own time. Imagine holding a treasure map, but instead of X marking the spot, the parchment is blank, there is no road to follow, and now that you come to think about it you're not even sure it is a treasure map. You curse that shady cartographer who sold it to you as you examine every inch of empty space on the page before you.

This was my experience trying to get started as a writer. I got stuck staring at that blank parchment for too long wondering if there really would be treasure at the end of my efforts, if it was all really worth it.

It is. It always will be. Fill that blank treasure map with words you need to get out, with feelings you need to express, with stories you need to tell. In turn, the map becomes the treasure itself.

its not always as easy as following the road laid out before you...

Expectations and Wordlessness

In a digital world of Amazon literature, it is all too easy to just assume that your work will get lost in a sea of unread pages where no one will ever discover it. The expectation that your work needs to appear on the best-seller page for it to be worth writing is paralyzing and prohibitive. Don't do that to your artistic practice.

This process of rumination over what will be, what won't be, or what could be gets in the way of the one thing you should be focused on: writing words to fill that blank treasure map.

Finding Community

Its rather ironic that a world so connected can feel so isolating. To add to that, the practice of writing can feel particularly solitary too, its a lot of time spent in your own head. Where possible, try to find a local writing community or an online community of fellow writers. It's really motivating to see others walking the same path, to celebrate book launches, and to see what people are working on. Everyone has a place in a good community. This sense of connection is motivating, and through it I found the drive to keep writing and the confidence to truly consider myself an author.

An important note: fellow writers are companions, not competition. No one else is writing your story. Learn and share; its a wild world out there, best not to go it alone.

Learning to Accept Rejection/Feedback

Finishing your project is only the first step. It's a significant one, and one worth celebrating, but depending on the route you take, it's just the beginning. If you decide to go down the route of traditional publishing, unless you are one of the fortunate few, you will likely face rejection before having your work accepted and published. Rejection isn't failure, its a detour sign encouraging you to explore an alternative route.

Regardless of whether you pursue traditional publishing, self-publishing, or just printing pamphlets and throwing them around town, you should get feedback on your writing. Even the most practiced authors have editors, people they trust to give them sound and honest advice on their work. Its easy to feel defensive about a project, especially if you have been working on it for a long time, but you need to learn to take these comments for what they are: opportunities for growth. A good editor will only help your work become all that you already know it can be.

Finding Your Own Way

I don't think much of this blog will take on such a traditional format, but I wanted to write this first entry as a resource, a little page of encouragement to anyone out there who finds themself in a position that is all too familiar to me: you know you want to write but something is holding you back. Forget everything that comes after and focus on getting the words down.

A revelation that I had during my own experimentation with process is that I draft much more effectively with paper and pen. A living fossil, I find something very liberating in the flow of ink from a fountain pen on the right piece of paper; there is a current to it that pulls at my thoughts and helps my ideas find a place to settle on the page. I write best in the morning or afternoon, my nights are for editing.

Find routine and discover your writing ritual. The ritualization of tasks elevates their significance in your mind to compete with the opposing priorities of our busy lives. Make space for your practice.

So, if you are a writer wondering how to get started on your writing journey, I have the most frustrating advice ever for you: find your own way. Discover what makes you write and keep writing. After all, you are a writer. This is what you are meant to do.