Dear Writer,
My last book was published in December 2015. That means my last book was written and finished… probably 2014?
I have written since then. I’ve written articles for work and podcast episodes and I’ve done some fiction writing and I’m halfway done with the How Story Works book (coming 2022, fingers crossed) but because I haven’t finished a fiction novel in almost seven years, I sometimes feel like I’m not a writer.
If you had a moment of, “That’s ridiculous, of course you’re a writer,” I’d like you to turn that thought around on yourself. A lot of people start their conversations with me with, “I’m an aspiring writer,” and I always stop them.
No. You’re not. You’re a writer.
Writing doesn’t just happen when words find their pages. That’s like saying sex only happens if there’s penetration, and that’s ridiculous. Writing happens when you stare out the window and your characters start to dance in your head. Writing happens when you’re watching a movie and you miss a whole chunk of it because one moment inspired you to spin out a whole story in your head. Writing happens when your brain is engaged in creating fiction. Whether or not that fiction finds itself expressed in words on a page is irrelevant. That story was written.
And you wrote it.
They say you know you’re not a narcissist if you wonder if you’re a narcissist. Here, you know you’re a writer if you signed up for this newsletter because why the hell would anyone who is not a writer sign up for daily writing newsletter?
You’re not an aspiring writer.
You’re a writer.
And so am I.
Everything,
L