So, you're a writer - now what?
Seven pieces of advice I would give a new writer
The other night at a friend’s birthday party, a boy stopped me.
“I know your face...” he told me.
“Uhhhhh...” I said back. I didn’t recognize him.
“Ohh! I was looking at your face on a screen today. You modeled for the brand I work for.”
Oh! Yes! That brand! That brand which also happened to be the first brand I wrote my first paid published think-pieces for. One of them being, People told me I had perfect skin, but I could never see it.
“Here, come sit at our table.” he told me. I obliged because I didn’t really know anyone else at this party.
I scooted into the booth and sat next to him.
I don’t know how we got onto the topic of poetry or how he ended up showing me all of the thoughts he’d written in his phone — or, oh! Yes! It was because I told him I was a writer. That I was a writer who was aiming to do something different.
He giggled and said, “I want you to read my little poems. They’re probably really bad, but whatever!”
A small knot appeared in my stomach because sometimes I’m not a very good liar when it comes to these kinds of things. However, I am really good at finding a gem inside of something.
He showed me a long notes app of all the times he wrote out his emotions. It was an ongoing document of every feeling that stirred him enough to write about.
As I read, I was illuminated. Yes, it was amateurish at times, dotted with cliches, but it had some real piercing moments of truth and clarity that made me clutch my chest.
Here’s a picture of one section that particularly struck me.
I mean HELLO. What a beautiful look into someone’s soul. I couldn’t handle it. I think I actually started tearing up.
He looked at me and asked, “Well what do I do with this?”
And I looked at him with the feeling of when I was just a person with a bunch of emotions scribbled in her notes app. How I thought there was nothing I could do with them. I would just log them because they felt good to go back to, to reference, to read.
I don’t think you choose to be writer, I think it chooses you.
I told him he should release his work in whatever way possible. Even if it’s just posting screenshots to his instagram stories. From there, a route would begin to reveal itself.
I’d say it’s been about seven or so years that I’ve understood that I’m a writer. Each year what continually blows my mind is how I continue to discover my natural behaviors are key parts of my practice. Things I used to get angry at myself for are the key forces that electrify my writing.
As I went home that night, I continued to think about him and my own journey. How, if I had the chance to go back and meet myself at the beginning of my notes app musings, what would I say?
What advice would I give her?
I would start by telling her these things:
You are not aimless for wandering — You love to walk around, getting lost in the streets, roaming alone in cities, meeting new and interesting people. Feeling like your life is strange. People will make you feel like you are wasting time by doing this. You are not. These are important things for you to do. This is how you observe the world and its people. This practice allows you into a semi-mediative headspace. It connects you to your writing voice. Devote time to be alone and do this. Do not invite your friends. Consider it your workplace.
Daydreaming about crushes is actually a good thing — Controversial take, considering the severity in which you daydream, but I have a challenge for you. Next time you catch yourself being windswept by ferocious, spiraling, daydreams, I urge you to pick up your pen and write them out. What you are experiencing is a creative impulse. You must release it. You will be surprised by the end of it how you will feel emptied out. How the daydreams will lose their blinding power and instead you will be left with a flare of a story. You will re-enter the real world again, clean, and replenished. And you will look at the boy you’re seeing for who he actually is. Some people are not meant to be in your life but are meant to inspire you. Try not to conflate the two.
You are a channel, keep yourself clear— As much as you try to make it a mental game, writing is an access point to something greater. Yes, you can plan. Yes, you can map out. Yes, you can research, but at the end of the day, all of this is in preparation for the moment you place pen to paper, finger pad to key. This is the moment you invite something mystical to happen. And if you’re lucky, you will forget your mind. Something else will take over — a voice, that is like yours, but is more assured. So assured it feels like it is echoing from somewhere above you. To which you try to look up to but you can’t! Because you are too busy being a scribe for this force. This force needs you because it can’t touch the paper or the keyboard. It doesn’t have a pen. But you do and you can try your best to listen. You can try your best to keep your head clear.
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