Coming Out a Writer!
A story of identity crisis and embracing the weird.
Hello, my name is Joe, Joey, Joseph, and I’m a writer.
I always find it a little awkward or difficult at first when meeting a new person to tell them what I actually do. I’m an awkward person as it is, but thankfully the internet won’t show you that yet.
Often, I have people who say their families aren’t respecting of what they’re choosing to do, they don’t see how you can support yourself with your writing. They say it’s not a real job, it’s not a career, and there’s so much negativity, for some, for others, there’s a world of optimism, and help.
I’ll welcome myself again.
Hello, I am Optimism, and I am Help!
I’ve been known to think negatively in the past, to always presume the worst because anything that isn’t the worst is surely good. Having that mindset wipes you out completely, you become all disgusting and disgusted, leading to all kinds of horrible thoughts.
I made the allusion to this as coming out because in a sense, this is a little like that, when I tell people I’m a writer, they’re immediately listing off the ten bestsellers they probably didn’t know until they interrogated you, and if you’re none of them or your book isn’t in bookstores, then your writing is a hobby, and you should get a real job. You don't need to have written a best-selling novel to consider yourself a writer!Click To Tweet
Maybe I’m being drastic, or maybe that’s just my experience.
Nowadays, with the internet, we have communities and tribes of readers and writers out there who are willing to help, and these people are the most amazing people you’ll ever meet on the internet. All writers need readers, and all readers need reading material. The best writers are readers, and the best readers are the people who take their time to read anything. If you’re reading this, hey, you’re pretty amazing.
My first laptop was a Christmas present, and I remember, I was 14, and I’m not the kind of person who shows emotion when people give me presents, typically people think I’m ungrateful for not screaming “thank you” and flailing my arms around them. So, my mum wasn’t sure whether I liked it or not, paranoid that I hated it, or it was the wrong one, there was nothing wrong with it. It was perfect.
Following Christmas I set up my first blog, and I tentatively titled my first post, “I will fail my exams because of The Sims!” — I didn’t fail my exams, in case you’re wondering. I was however obsessed with the game, and that’s carried on through to my adult life and the current Sims 4.
At the time I set up my Blogger account, I used a picture of a dragon. I then used this picture when I set up my second account, but the third and fourth attempt at setting up blogs, I decided on using these selfies a friend had taken on her phone and upload to Facebook. I know what you’re thinking. Damn, that kid was cool, 2009 (that’s when I set up the final Blogger account I had up until a few months ago when I closed it down to welcome you to a self-hosted site) and taking selfies!
During my stint on Blogger in the earlier years I thought I’d make it big, I thought I would be one of the Amanda Hocking’s or Christopher Paolini’s of the world. I wasn’t. But getting out of that mindset and telling myself just how one-in-a-billion their two stories are was one of the best things I ever did.
I finished my first manuscript aged 16, it was a 60,000-word piece of nonsensical garbage. I can fish it out if you want me to read a piece, and then you can gage how far I’ve come while also gauging your eyes out.
Coming out as a writer to my mum was weird, I was met with but don’t you want to do something you can make money from, like law, or becoming a doctor, and neither of those things were like yay, let’s do that, I think for the longest time I wanted to be a lawyer, or a chef, something to shut people up about needing a plan. Like I needed to have myself prepared because adulthood would snatch me up.
I always knew what I wanted to do, and now, being older, I feel like I’ve wasted opportunities and I can’t be the writer I wanted to be, but who am I kidding, I’m young and I’ve done pretty well so far. Several self-published titled and the ability to have an income from that is an amazing feat.
A lot of writers out there are writing for 22+ years before they even release their debut novel, self-publishing or otherwise. You might be one of those people, you might be here looking for someone to help you get published, someone to help jump the hurdles faced when it comes to writing, to editing, and everything we deal with publishing. You don't choose to be a writer, it chooses you!Click To Tweet
I can help. Every single week I’ll be posting three informative posts that will help you with whatever you’re facing, and if you have anything specifically, please contact me, I’ll try and make sure that’s on my list too.
Leave a comment describing your experience telling people you’re a writer.
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