I would like to add - stop staying you wish to become a writer. Identify as a writer, right now. Make a promise to yourself to write every day, even if it's just 10 minutes some days. Do it "daily-ish." Get a job to pay the bills, but when people ask what you do, say "I'm a writer." Because if you write every day, that is true.
Two books I *highly* recommend, that were life-changing for me: "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert, and "Meditations for Mortals" by Oliver Burkeman.
After dreaming of "becoming a writer," my whole life, these books helped me finally just live it from the inside out. I started submitting stories for the first time in my life, and one got accepted last month, to be published in the spring.
But I wish I'd done this at age 29 and not age 56!
This William Blake image is the mantra of my creative process.
I honestly don't know how I would make anything if I didn't desire for it to exist, and desire to be the one who makes it. That's the start of everything for me. I don't want to "be an artist", in fact I find that somewhat annoying, because it's too vague. What I want is more specific. I WANT to sculpt a complicated, philosophical sructure that exactly expresses my feelings about death and human agency. I WANT to sculpt a simple little sloth-like creature whose tender body makes people want to cry. I WANT to sculpt a round figure that is simultaneously a bug and a mother, and make it fit exactly in the palm of your hand. I want people to want want the things I made. They don't even know they want it until they see it, and then they feel "I want I want".
It seems to me that if the LW wants to write things that lift people out of despair and cultivate emotional awareness, the only way to do that, literally the only way, is for the LW to write things that lift him out of despair and cultivate his own emotional awareness.
The William Blake is my mantra, but this quote is the explanation: "The most demanding part of living a lifetime as an artist is the strict discipline of forcing oneself to work steadfastly along the nerve of one’s own intimate sensitivity" (Anne Truitt)
To me, that means I have to get really, really specific about what I actually want, and obsessively think about what exact shape I want it to take. And that's why Polly says, "my only aim right now is to please myself." That's not a self-care truism, that's a description of the ACTUAL LABOR of creativity.
This was absolutely excellent advice! If it helps, I like to think about writing as, like, talking about the most important things. So the question I return to is 'What is most important / alive right now?' But as Polly says, you are the only one who can find out what form or content or purpose your writing wants to take, & you can only do that by doing it. That's the case with all creative work, but most so with writing I reckon. Best of luck, letter writer! I enjoyed to read your letter. (That's another thing I often think about: that writing to people on my Substack is like writing a letter...)
P.S. When I am in the process of writing, it feels like, how can I most clearly communicate what I am trying to communicate? Clarity is beauty. Also, what is arising now? What wants to come next? The writing itself is alive & it will tell you what it wants to be, the more you work & listen, the easier it gets.
I believe that supporting yourself so that you can live on your own (or with a roommate instead of a parent) is as important as writing regularly. In an 8-hour day, I'd spend 7 looking for the best paying work I could and 1 hour writing. That balance can shift more, once you are supporting yourself.
(And if you're not getting job interviews, find a professional to review your resume. Don't fall for "resume factories"—find a specific human on LinkedIn or even at your local library.)
I will say that a career as a writer can look quite different than writing to please yourself and seeing where that takes you.
If you're writing to please yourself first, anything can happen. Maybe you'll get published by Knopf—or maybe you'll end up in a less-famous lit mag. Maybe you'll end up being quite well known—or maybe you'll have a small but loyal readership on Substack. But it's the process of writing as well as you can for yourself that's the most important thing.
A writer who writes for income often takes on all kinds of work that isn't exactly fulfilling. But overall they love writing and most likely have their own writing projects that keep them energized. You might be also be surprised to learn how many famous writers *never* gave up their non-writing, income-earning "day job".
And maybe you'll end up in the category where writing for yourself also supports you financially.
But start here: Get as good a job as you can; save and invest for your older age; and write regularly to the best of your ability.
As usual, fantastic advice!
I would like to add - stop staying you wish to become a writer. Identify as a writer, right now. Make a promise to yourself to write every day, even if it's just 10 minutes some days. Do it "daily-ish." Get a job to pay the bills, but when people ask what you do, say "I'm a writer." Because if you write every day, that is true.
Two books I *highly* recommend, that were life-changing for me: "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert, and "Meditations for Mortals" by Oliver Burkeman.
After dreaming of "becoming a writer," my whole life, these books helped me finally just live it from the inside out. I started submitting stories for the first time in my life, and one got accepted last month, to be published in the spring.
But I wish I'd done this at age 29 and not age 56!
https://tosommerfugle.blogspot.com/2021/01/william-blake-i-want-i-want.html
This William Blake image is the mantra of my creative process.
I honestly don't know how I would make anything if I didn't desire for it to exist, and desire to be the one who makes it. That's the start of everything for me. I don't want to "be an artist", in fact I find that somewhat annoying, because it's too vague. What I want is more specific. I WANT to sculpt a complicated, philosophical sructure that exactly expresses my feelings about death and human agency. I WANT to sculpt a simple little sloth-like creature whose tender body makes people want to cry. I WANT to sculpt a round figure that is simultaneously a bug and a mother, and make it fit exactly in the palm of your hand. I want people to want want the things I made. They don't even know they want it until they see it, and then they feel "I want I want".
It seems to me that if the LW wants to write things that lift people out of despair and cultivate emotional awareness, the only way to do that, literally the only way, is for the LW to write things that lift him out of despair and cultivate his own emotional awareness.
The William Blake is my mantra, but this quote is the explanation: "The most demanding part of living a lifetime as an artist is the strict discipline of forcing oneself to work steadfastly along the nerve of one’s own intimate sensitivity" (Anne Truitt)
To me, that means I have to get really, really specific about what I actually want, and obsessively think about what exact shape I want it to take. And that's why Polly says, "my only aim right now is to please myself." That's not a self-care truism, that's a description of the ACTUAL LABOR of creativity.
This was absolutely excellent advice! If it helps, I like to think about writing as, like, talking about the most important things. So the question I return to is 'What is most important / alive right now?' But as Polly says, you are the only one who can find out what form or content or purpose your writing wants to take, & you can only do that by doing it. That's the case with all creative work, but most so with writing I reckon. Best of luck, letter writer! I enjoyed to read your letter. (That's another thing I often think about: that writing to people on my Substack is like writing a letter...)
P.S. When I am in the process of writing, it feels like, how can I most clearly communicate what I am trying to communicate? Clarity is beauty. Also, what is arising now? What wants to come next? The writing itself is alive & it will tell you what it wants to be, the more you work & listen, the easier it gets.
As a seventy one year old trying to write his first novel I found this very useful and encouraging. Thank you Mike.
I believe that supporting yourself so that you can live on your own (or with a roommate instead of a parent) is as important as writing regularly. In an 8-hour day, I'd spend 7 looking for the best paying work I could and 1 hour writing. That balance can shift more, once you are supporting yourself.
(And if you're not getting job interviews, find a professional to review your resume. Don't fall for "resume factories"—find a specific human on LinkedIn or even at your local library.)
I will say that a career as a writer can look quite different than writing to please yourself and seeing where that takes you.
If you're writing to please yourself first, anything can happen. Maybe you'll get published by Knopf—or maybe you'll end up in a less-famous lit mag. Maybe you'll end up being quite well known—or maybe you'll have a small but loyal readership on Substack. But it's the process of writing as well as you can for yourself that's the most important thing.
A writer who writes for income often takes on all kinds of work that isn't exactly fulfilling. But overall they love writing and most likely have their own writing projects that keep them energized. You might be also be surprised to learn how many famous writers *never* gave up their non-writing, income-earning "day job".
And maybe you'll end up in the category where writing for yourself also supports you financially.
But start here: Get as good a job as you can; save and invest for your older age; and write regularly to the best of your ability.