10 Things They Don't Tell You About Being a Writer...

"I want to be a writer... an author... when I grow up!"

Well, little me. There is a lot that goes into that. Much more small moving parts than you think. Let's take a moment and talk through what I have discovered only this far in my creative journey (and we're like... two-ish months in).

10 Things I've Learned About Being a Writer...

1. You need strong time management skills.

   
   

You might think this is a given, but let me tell you. You blink and it's two weeks (or more) later. The best example I can give is this blog. I try to plan out a schedule to get things posted, emails sent out, social media posted. Next thing you know it's been three days and absolutely nothing has gotten done for the website, but I have about three thousand words written within a manuscript.

You might be thinking well Kylie that is not a bad thing. You did write for your manuscript. But that takes us into our number two...

2. Promoting yourself (and you writing) is more important that you think.

   
   

Yes, yes, your friends and family will support you and they'll even help share your work from time to time. But remember, how do they get that sharable work? Oh, right, BECAUSE YOU POSTED IT OR SHARED IT FIRST. Becoming a writer, especially with an online presence, is a lot harder than I initially thought.

Some conversations I have had with others... or myself in the past week.

Inner Gremlin: "Oh well you write. So just post what you write online."

You can't do that, especially to an excess because if you want to go a traditional publishing route they might not appreciate the plethora of content being shared on your social platforms.

Mom: "Well aren't you blogging everyday?"

Hey, now. I had to set a semi-maintainable goal of hopefully once a week. Don't get too overzealous now.

3. Growing an Audience won't happen overnight.

This might seem self explanatory, but I have to remind myself of this regularly. I have these big goals, dreams, and plans, but my people will flock to me in due time. I would take a room full of ten people who genuinely enjoy my writing and thought process over 1,000 people who just want to follow trends. I write because my imagination plagues me until I can put words on paper. The characters demand to be heard and most of the time understood. If that resonates with at least one person. I am doing my job.

4. BE CRINGE.

It doesn't matter if someone thinks what you're doing is "cringe" or uncool. As a society we have learned to gravitate away from things that make us unique, weird, and intriguing.

Conformity kills creation.

Let's just say many of my friends know I read romance, and know that some of them contain smut. The ongoing joke is that I read "fairy porn" and when I told my friends that I am starting to take this whole writing and author thing seriously, they jokingly asked if I was going to write "fairy porn." When I gave a slight shrug and a maybe as an answer they were slightly disappointed.

"F--k what people think. Write what you want and like to read, Kylie."

5. Being creative counts as being productive.

Even if creativity is your safe space where you relax, it still counts as being productive. I find a comfort in writing that seems absurd to most people, but even if I am creating a new project or simply writing for myself the Doubt Goblin creeps in and tells me that I am not being productive. Taking care of yourself and making time for things you enjoy is being productive.

It's just like when I create a Pinterest board for story ideas and vibes, it counts as planning out my writing process and being productive. If I am doodling out another character or practicing my drawing skills (see #7) it counts as being productive, too.

6. A strong sense of imposter syndrome will happen at some point... if it hasn't already.

I posted a post about my struggles with imposter syndrome this month and let's just say it continues to plague my brain all the time. I have been dealing with a lot of self-doubt (thanks Nettie) as I come into the finals for this term in school. I had to write a small collection of poems and a short story for the first round of finals. When I tell you I will be in a perpetual state of anxiety attack until the grades are published in a week or so... it's gonna be bad.

The way I have tried to counter my imposter syndrome has been doing things that remind me that I am good at what I do. Surrounding myself with a strong support system that helps me throughout the idea and editing process. I also named the inner voice that sends all those negative thoughts my way. If you want to learn more about my process I posted a whole piece about it: here.

7. You want character art? Time to learn to draw...

If you are anything like me, then you know that paying for character art is out of the budget. Between adult bills, paying for school, and feeding the cat.... I choose to feed my cat. SO that being said, I had to turn to my own creativity and stubbornness and try to figure out how all of these amazing artists are using procreate. After some reference photos I found on Pinterest, and long hours of YouTube videos teaching me the basics and tricks. I have been trying to create my own little, digital persona.

I wanted to have created the perfect piece to introduce her to you, but let's just say... um... writing is my passion, art is merely a side quest. I will continue to practice, but in the meantime...

I will be saving up to get some commissioned art at some point.

I have also tried creating some other blog related characters such as Nettle (Nettie), The Doubt Goblin, and a few more that have yet to make their appearances. You can see Nettie's debut in the blog post about Imposter Syndrome. (Reminder that the art featured there was found on Pinterest and not my own)

8. If it matters to you, it doesn't have to matter to anyone else.

This is something I struggled with for a long time before starting my website and social medias. I had the plaguing fear and nagging feeling of "no one will like it" or even worse "no one will read it." insert image of Nettie whispering her sweet nothings into my brain again

Writing has completely consumed most of my life; especially, now that I am trying to manage school (as a creative writing undergrad), the website/this blog, and social media posts on a semi-frequent basis.

This is important to me. I don't need negativity from outside sources when Nettie is already the queen of that. So if you need me, I will be hidden behind my keyboard, clicking away towards my dreams for the foreseeable future.

9. You need to find the rhythm that works best for you.

I am still working on this one personally. I am a semi-scheduler. Meaning, I haven't picked up my journal since probably Wednesday, but I know I should be better about setting things up to be able to actually start planning things out. I work better with a schedule as a suggestion and goal to motivate me. However, I have found that brain dumping blog posts and saving reels I think are interesting templates on Instagram does help much more than writing out "Post on Blog" or "Instagram reel??" on a specific day of the month.

What works best for you might be chaos for others, and what works well for others might be a whole different language for you.

If you are anything like me, trying to find your groove in a world full of other peoples' ideas, you have looked up "writing schedules" or "the best way to write" and come across famous authors plans and how they get their ideas on paper. Remember: Stephen King writes differently than John Steinbeck. You will write differently than me, and we will all write differently than each other.

10. You are worth more than you likes and follows. Your writing is good.

The last thing I want to talk about is that you are worth more than the analytics you can produce on social media. This is something I continuously struggle with and have realized that I find myself checking more often than I should.

I am worth more than the likes or follows, and so are you.

xx,

Kylie Rose