Why You Must Never Say ‘I Want To Be a Writer’
By: Glyn Bawden
Tags: Writing Tips, Routine, Writing, Habits, Writing Life

The legendary comic genius Peter Cook performed several sketches in the ’60s as a character called EL Wisty. He was a raincoat-wearing, bland, monotonous, droning, know-it-all and in one famous sketch, he laments on his career, saying;

‘I always wanted to be a judge, but I didn’t have the Latin.’

That was his reason for not becoming a judge.

I wanted to be an astronaut, but when I discovered just how difficult it is to become one, I lost interest.

There is a marked difference to being and wanting to be and when the requirements are stringent and demanding, then you can understand why people give up and that is why the rewards of such careers are so high. But there are degrees of ‘being’ and I’m not about to get all existential here but whilst it probably isn’t possible for the vast majority of the population to be an astronaut, or a high court judge, it is absolutely possible to follow your dreams in other areas.

Maybe you wanted to be a footballer?

Ok, well, like most of us you probably won’t be getting trials for Premier League sides any time soon, but you can play at a lower level, a Sunday league team, a pub team, a 5-a-side team. There are endless opportunities out there.

What has this got to do with being a writer? Or not?

We’ve all fallen in love with the idea of decamping to Provence like Peter Mayle and dashing off a best-seller or sending off another script, story or article for publication.

That’s the dream anyway. And it’s that dream that captures us all, because that’s all it is , a dream. But that’s why we want to be writers. It’s the romance. It’s being able to say to someone when they ask the question;

‘What do you do for a living?’

You can reply,

‘Me? Oh I’m a writer.’

It sounds great, doesn’t it. And that’s why we say things like ‘I want to be a writer’. We are caught up the romantic illusion. The image portrayed by films like ‘Love Actually’ where Colin Firth heads off to France to hole himself up and write his novel.

But think about it. It makes no sense.

What actually is stopping you from being a writer?

Presumably you can physically write? And even if you cant there is voice recognition software available to do it for you.

All you need is a pen and piece of paper and hey presto you’re a writer.

Don’t get confused by the idea that ‘being a writer’ means being PAID to be a writer and I think that’s what everyone means when they say ‘I want to be a writer’. What they actually mean is ‘I want to be paid for my writing’ .

Why?

Well for one it looks like it’s a pretty easy life. You’re your own boss, working the hours you want. Get up at noon, write for a few hours, have a leisurely dinner, a few drinks and go off to bed.

But stop a second. Take a while to look at all the top writers you can think of and ask yourself ‘Is that what they do?’ Have a look at this article from James Clear if you want some insight into just how demanding it can be; The Daily Routines of 12 Famous Writers (jamesclear.com)

Maybe there are a few literary geniuses who can get away with it, but for the majority, it’s a hard and disciplined slog. It means turning up for work every day without fail and putting the hours in. It means not sitting around waiting for ‘The muse’ to grab you, whatever that means.

The opportunities for writing are so enormous these days that there is no-one, but no-one, who shouldn’t be able to produce something and put it out there for all to see.

Maybe you won’t be able to make money from your writing straight away, but you can still practice it.

These days it has never been easier to BE a writer. Don’t ever say you WANT to be a writer. Don’t hold back, don’t hide your light under a bushel. If you want to write, then write and for goodness sake tell everyone you’re a writer.