Becoming A Writer Part I

What's the hardest thing to do when you are trying to become a writer? To believe in yourself. You can learn all there is to know about writing, but if you don't believe that you can do it... that your work, your words are good enough... then you won't sludge through and finish writing your dream. Of course there will be a lot of doubt. A lot of second guessing.

Not only will you doubt yourself, but just when you start feeling optimistic, others will feel the need to remind you of the statistics.
Don't let them.


What should I learn? Where do I start? Will I lose my voice if I listen to other authors?

I've read books on writing. I've read other author's writing blogs. However, they tell me what they do. How they write. I don't want to write like them. I'm not telling their story.

You shouldn't write for money. You shouldn't write for fame. You should write because you love it. Because you like seeing people light up and get lost in one of your stories. You like to evoke emotions in people as they read what you've written. You should write because you have something to say. You have something that others will want to be a part of.  Even if those people are just the characters in your book...your own little world. Even if you're the only person that will escape through the story.

If you finally overcome the battle of self doubt and self deprecation (as many times as you need to), there are, however, technical things you need to know. All of the little grammatical rules to follow in order to not be laughed off the proverbial stage of the query letter (I'll go over that in part II).
 
My mom is a fifth grade teacher. She's been doing it for over twenty years. I thought that she might be the perfect person to proof read my work. I told her that before I started writing a book I thought I was actually good at English (this is where she was supposed to chuckle a little bit at that and then give me the obligatory mother response that I was fishing for "Oh, silly Elsa, of course you're good at English!")
That's when she said this:
"I don't think anyone who hasn't gone above high school can ever be that good."
I had 'gone above' high school. I have an associates, but I didn't know what I wanted to be so I didn't want to waste money on a degree I wouldn't use. I was valedictorian with a GPA of 4.6 for crying out loud!

I didn't know what to say.
I felt like I had been slapped in the face.
It's not a secret that she doesn't think I can do this.
But that's not what matters.
What matters is if I believe I can.
And I do.