Becoming a successful-sought after writer, working for the world’s top entertainment channel, making the best-sellers lists, and writing for successful movies is a dream come true.
It’s easy to think that to become a successful writer, you need to have the world handed to you on a silver platter. But that is far from the truth. Think of J.K Rowling. She was a poor single mom, living in poverty and refusing to eat so that she could feed her daughter. She could have taken the first fast-food gig that popped up and she could very-well be serving you up and greasy burger and fries at this very moment. Instead she followed her dreams to become a writer. A career which is a dime a dozen. A needle in a hay stack proposition. But, now she is living the life of her dreams.
Read more about J.K here.
Lesson learned? Don’t let your situation or external circumstances shape the choices you make in life.
Gillian Flynn, writer of Gone, Girl had it not-so-hard, but she still had some obstacles to overcome to reach her dreams. First off, being shy. Being shy is one of the hardest obstacles to overcome as a creative type. Why? Because as a artist, you are almost always seeking recognition. You want to be reminded constantly of how well you are doing, and encouraged. However, as a shy type, you are afraid of being the center of attention, putting yourself and your work out into the world to await potential rejection.
That can cause you to create and create, perfect and perfect, and never display the work in the real world in fear that it will not be accepted.
This is something that I personally deal with a lot.
Gillian was able to overcome this- growing up in the small town of Missouri where in her own words “I grew up in a place where it wasn’t crazy to want to write a book. It was considered a valuable thing to do.” This probably helped her out some with her confidence levels. To embark on a career that is socially accepted makes it a little easier to actually begin to pursue it. What we really should be thinking, is that it is crazy to begin on a path towards something that we truly do not even want. Like taking the ‘smart’ jobs that we’re not really passionate about.
We shouldn’t let other people’s ideas of what ‘chasing a dream’ or ‘following crazy ambitions’ stop us from doing what we really want.
To help her continue to climb out of her shell, I’m sure her high school odd-jobs, like the one where she dressed as a yoghurt cone dressed in a tuxedo, helped too.
So if you want to become a writer. Do it. Pick up a pen and begin to write. Refine your work until it becomes amazing. You may think that your dream to become a writer is selfish, but you have to stop to think that your story, might inspire someone.
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