(Image from Flickr by erink_photography.)
Back in 2008 – 2009, I had two major strands to my writing: the blogging and freelance web writing that paid the bills, and the fiction I was writing as part of my MA in Creative Writing.
I felt uneasy, though. I worried that my paying work must seem hack-like to my fellow MA students – and that my fiction-writing would look indulgent and silly to the blogging world.
Of course, no-one was paying that much attention to what I was writing. My fears weren’t really about other people’s opinions – they were about my own uncertainty as to what “counted” as proper writing, and my inner critic’s insistence that whatever I was doing, it somehow wasn’t worthy enough.
And I know I’m not the only writer who feels that way.
Let’s take a look at some popular reasons why writers think their words somehow aren’t good enough to count as “proper” or “real” writing:
[click to continue…]
Ali: This is a guest post from Karol K. of Writers in Charge, who got in touch and offered to share these great tips with us. Like Karol, I started freelancing without really noticing. In fact, it was almost an accident: at the start of 2008, I got in touch with a blog to write a guest post, and they offered me a regular, paid position. I had no business name, no website, no plan, and no experience in running a business! If you’re in a similar position, Karol’s tips should help.
Over to you, Karol!
It took two months for me to realize that I was a freelance writer: I suddenly had three clients waiting for my articles, and there was a deadline to meet. Even then, it took a while for me to figure out a few things that make freelance life much easier.
[click to continue…]
Image from Flickr by fakelvis
The real secret is that anyone can write a book. There’s no initiation ceremony. No dues to pay. You don’t need a special degree from a fancy school. Writing is for everyone, and this is your chance to scrawl your name across the page.
– Gennifer Albin (quoted here)
Writing is for everyone – but so many writers and almost-writers struggle against a little nagging voice that says it isn’t for you. That voice is the Inner Critic.
Your Inner Critic can be a hugely destructive force, sapping your confidence, encouraging you to skip writing sessions, and even making you think about giving up on writing altogether.
You don’t have to defeat your Inner Critic, or silence it altogether, though. Your Inner Critic is critical, in all three senses of the word:
- It criticises you, telling you that you’re not good enough.
- It critiques your writing – in the way that a workshop group would.
- It’s a vital part of your writing.
[click to continue…]
I used to have a lot of fuzzy ideas about the writing life. From my early teens, I knew I wanted a career as a writer … but I had no clear picture of what that involved.
Since then, I’ve slowly wised up to the realities (and the joys, and the frustrations) of writing; I’ve also heard a lot of other misconceptions from new writers.
I’ll start with one of my own… and the reality that I’ve discovered.
[click to continue…]
I'm Ali Luke, a writer and blogger living in Oxford in the UK. I blog here about writing and the writing life. 
