My journey towards ‘becoming a writer’ Part 1 (Thoughts, Feelings, Updates)

What makes one a writer?

I’m not referring to a literate person here. A writer, in this case, is someone that defines themselves as such.

Is it sitting down to pen a daily number of words? Getting paid to write every day? But what about those that get paid to write a few times a week or month? Does their infrequency even though they are getting paid really mean that they aren’t considered writers by those that do? What about those that only wrote up until the point that they finished a book and after successfully published and sold said book made the decision to take a break from writing?

Such are the convoluted thoughts and questions that twist and burrow to make a home in my mind. My answer to these and more questions is bohemian in the extreme: ‘Writers write.’

‘Writers write.’

It really is that simple. But wait-anyone can pick up a pen and jot down a hundred words and ‘be a writer’ by my definition so allow me to define this under my personal value system. I am an obsessive being with an addictive personality  who is highly competitive. To me then, when I tell people I’m on the journey towards ‘becoming a writer’ I am not being modest.

I  write every day and am not nor have I ever been paid for it in any way. I receive very little feedback and have only recently started posting online. The words novice, initiate, beginner, and noob all hover at the forefront of my mind buzzing their remonstrations for me to quit. But I do not.

This idea of a novel I’ve had brewing for around a year influenced me to start my project of writing short stories every day for a year to train this craft as quickly as possible. Alas, I haven’t posted one every day since I’ve started this time last month, I’ve missed four or five. I failed. I wanted to stop after I missed that first one. The guilt that I felt those days is something that I had been running from my entire life. Why I’d always quit when the going got tough and why I’d run to distractions. I’ve learned so much about disciplining my own mind. Time management has become a running fear whereas in my past I would

I wanted to stop after I missed that first one. The guilt that I felt those days is something that I had been running from my entire life. Why I’d always quit when the going got tough and why I’d run to distractions. I’ve learned so much about disciplining my own mind. Time management has become a running fear, whereas in my past I would ‘waste’ time with video games and media I didn’t enjoy even 5% of the time.

Now that I like what I’m doing I’m constantly thinking about writing. Story ideas, techniques, character traits, dialogue, and poetry are in the forefront of my mind. I work 40+ hours a week at a day job making minimum wage. I try to work at least as much on my writing as I do while at my job. My goal is eight hours a day whether that be reading, writing or researching for my craft.

Some of my long term goals for the next 5-10 years include:

• Pen a popular fiction series that will positively impact the environment through awareness of global warming themes and donate a percentage of sales towards environmental preservation organizations.
• Learn more about photography and poetry so that I can develop a book with all of my own photos and original poems.
• Focus on positively influencing one person every day to hopefully create something which, if each person feels inspired they can inspire someone else and it will snowball out of control. Spreading happiness and creativity pyramid scheme style.

This blog started as a short story platform where I would produce one a day. I failed. I am okay with failure. I am okay with critics, which is why all of my daily creative short written work is and will be continued to be posted the day I write it. I’ve also started to post some of my poetry as well. If you like what I’ve done so far, comment. If you hate my writing because of x and y, comment. If you want to simply say hi or ask me a question about anything, comment. So often this feels like a shout in the wind. But this is the start of my ‘journey’ which I hope will never end as I continue to learn and grow and help those around me. If you have read this far, really and sincerely, thank you.

Roderick Wills