I have sometimes wondered what it would be like to meet my younger self and tell him things I never knew then. To sit down, do my essay, and talk to him about what life is going to be and that he should not have to be so hard on himself. With all the gathered knowledge and experienced ups and downs I so wanted to tell it all. Maybe even share some warnings about some misfortune events. Wait. If that were to happen, maybe I should prepare some lists of the things I would want to tell him. And I would probably start with: 1.Never give in and never give up. A writer will always face struggle especially in financial aspects. It is (almost) true about what they say: “There is no money in writing”—at least up to some point. But literally, it is almost impossible to be a millionaire from being a writer. People would always say that what we do is just an alibi to sit around all day and pretend to be an artist. People would always say that we are no good and that we should stop pretending to be great at what we do. But no matter what they say, we will prove them wrong. In time, with enough patience and perseverance we will push through and get to where I am now. I am finally living the life of a paid writer and was told to be pretty good at it. So whatever they might tell you or whatever they say to bring you down, do not let them get inside your head. I know you are thinking about giving up but DO NOT for we will prevail. Just look at me now. 2.Yes, there is money in writing so stop moping around. We are not like J.K. Rowling or George R. R. Martin living a prestigious and famous life. No we are not. But we are making money doing what we love—writing. I am a content writer for a company doing a decent job for various websites. I get paid for writing their content minus my name on it. Plus, I still do freelance writing on the side and it gives me that extra buck to live the life we so wanted from the very beginning. No, we are not millionaires yet but I am counting that one day we will be. A little more push on luck and making opportunities along the way and I know I will have it… We will both have it. 3.Take the opportunity to learn more every day. I know that with all your knowledge with a lot of things in this world, you are probably thinking that you already know it all but I must tell you that you are wrong. I learned the hard way from pretending that I am the master of what I do. The only thing that I am a master of is my fate. We are not the best at what we do but we are not the worst as well. After learning more and more and trying harder and harder I finally made a name for myself… for us, as we are one. Every failure and every rejection has taught me to be better. It has taught me to try different things and do different genre. Turns out that I am not just for the make-believe style of fiction. That I am also capable of trying out serious and formal stuff. That I am actually good at almost all sorts of niche. My only regret now is that I should have tried earlier. You should try now as you are my younger self. 4.You are a writer; do not let anybody tell you otherwise. So what if your writing sucks now. To hell with them. You are a writer and writing is your passion. No matter how much rejection you have received and are about to receive, do not listen to them. You will get better if you just strive harder. Just learn how to do a different approach to things. Your writing is good, just not appropriate to the audience you prepared it for. Let them judge you and your work. Someday they will swallow their words and it will be our turn to laugh (so much hate there). Kidding aside though, just follow your dream. Let’s be a writer. 5.Go out and meet other beings just like us. Writers do not have to be alone and confined to some enclosed room that nobody should disturb. Go out and meet other writers. Join a club and get acquainted to other people who have the same passion as we do. If there are contests to being the best then by all means join them. Have fun and be creative among fellow writers. Learn and see how they do their craft. The inspiration they use to fuel that passion. There is a vast collection of intellect out there and we should share them among others. Do not be ashamed to compare notes and style with other rookies and seasoned writers. Eventually, you will find that going out makes us better and sharper with our skill. 6.Enjoy. Lastly, stop being such a scaredy-cat. Whatever you have in mind do it now. Stop worrying about being wrong; what matters is you are not hurting anybody. Write to your heart’s content. Write and worry about it after. Write and show it to the world. Write with a different perspective every time. This is what we are born to do. We write like it is the only thing there is. We write because we love doing it and not because somebody told us to. Stop worrying about not getting published. Accept criticism like a challenge and not something that is killing us. I am your proof that we are not of grandeur but we are of talent, skill, determination and of pure love to this art that is called writing. You are probably thinking that all I did was tell my younger self how to be a writer. Why not tell him about the winning numbers in Lotto in his coming years? Why not tell him how to be rich instead of being such a frustrated writer? Well, I would tell him that, of course, and probably more but that is for another topic. But yes, you are right. That would have been a more interesting topic. I should probably write about it on a different paper. Until then, you are stuck with what is written here. Sorry mate. Peace.
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AuthorHello there! I'm Penny, and I'm really glad that you made it into my page. Recently, I made a huge career shift to freelance writing. I know the risks of instability and work-life imbalance that it endows, but I gladly obliged. I also have a side job of conducting tutorials for students for their routinary school works. This page will serve as a compilation of my articles and blogs about freelancing, motivation, life hacks, and almost everything under the sun. See yah :) CategoriesArchives |