Advice for Aspiring Professional Writers
Listen here you voidless creatures of finite substance. This may not be the most important writing advice you’ll ever read, but it is the most truthful. If you are to fully commit to the art of literature, you must do so under a strict regimen of practice and theory. Unlike many fields of study, writing is one where practice comes first.
Writing must become an individual’s sole reason to wake up and experience the world. As soon as one finishes brushing their teeth and eating breakfast, the swift exercise of brushing letters through strokes with ink is to be the only operating function in motion. The rest of the mind must be whisking away in a land where limitless ventures are the norm of sanctity. The moment should last hours and only end when enough words have been written. Even if the content is pure garbage under your view, this should not be a reason to quit or be discouraged. Those moments aren’t made for the purpose of producing good content but to better function in a developed routine.
No one is a natural born writer. Only with time and practice can somebody be consider good. James Joyce would’ve never been able to write the way he did if he didn’t dedicate hours, days, weeks, and years of his life studying languages and practicing writing every day. The amount of time Joyce spent crafting his work is no different than the time a surgeon spent learning about biology or an astrophysics learning about the quantitative measures of the universe. The key to every genius is the amount of time and desire they dedicated in pursuing their passion. It is never this impossible task we tell ourselves it is.
The difference between you and the man or woman that is about to publish a piece on Rolling Stone or The Atlantic is the hours they spent trying to be a better writer every day for years. They didn’t take a break nor were easily discouraged when something didn’t go their way. They learned from their mistakes and went back to writing. There is no other way around it. The work must be done.
And so, to avoid going through redundancies, I leave you on this note. Write. Write about what you love down to the last detail. Write about how you feel and what you think is right. Write about your mistakes and use them as inspiration for works of fiction. Write about your reaction when your favorite sports team won an important game. Write about what you love or didn’t love about a book you’re reading. Write about the fragility of existence as a form of comfort during tough times. Write about distant memories as fiction or recollections. But most important, write because there is nothing else that makes you feel more alive.
