If You Want to Be A Writer, Start Writing

Here is an incomplete list of things I used to do a lot before I actually became a writer:

1. Daydreamed about the kind of books I wanted to write
2. Daydreamed about what it would be like to receive a monthly royalty check straight to my bank account
3. Daydreamed about the backdrop I would use in my famous writing YouTube channel
4. Daydreamed about what it would be like to write on the beaches of Bali
5. Window shopped online for computers, electronic typewriters, and software I would use as a famous writer
6. Passed cute coffee shops and public parks and thought “Wow, what a cute place that would be to write.”

Doing these things was a lot of fun. But it never made me a writer. The only thing that makes me a writer is writing regularly.

Once I started writing regularly, I realized many of the things I daydreamed about writing were total fantasies.

1. I thought I wanted to write young adult fantasy novels and thick discursive books on the nature of the self and the universe, but when I actually sat down to write, I realized I wanted to write about personal growth the most.
2. I will never pick a backdrop for my YouTube channel because I hate making YouTube videos. I’m a writer, not a vlogger.
3. Thinking “This would be an amazing place to write” is like thinking “This would be an amazing place to have sex.” The idea of kicking back on a beach and letting the words flow sounds nice, but in reality, sand gets everywhere and constant distractions ruin your good time.
4. Those computers, electronic typewriters, and writing software are nothing but money pits. All you need to be a writer is a device with a keyboard and an internet connection.

The best place to write isn’t the beaches of Bali or the inside of your camper van parked in the mountains, it’s in an air-conditioned house with a kitchen stocked full of pre-cooked healthy food. Travel and new experiences make great fertilizer, but the growth happens in a stable environment.

The trappings of being a bestselling writer (writers groups, teaching writers courses, conferences, so on and so forth) can easily and often do become distractions from the essential work of writing.

If you want to become a writer, this is great news. The only difference between you as you are now and you, the writer, is that instead of browsing the internet and reading articles like these, you’d be writing them.

So open a new tab. Start a story on Medium, open a fresh Google Doc, or your other favorite writing program, and get started.

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