You are always a writer. So, write!
Practical advice for everyone who loves words, whether you feel creative today or not
I never stop being a son, a brother or a parent. There’s no time card that I punch in a wall each evening to say I’ve finished for the day. Even now, having been married for decades, a parent of adults, and now a grandfather, my status and titles remain as real as the day they were first real.
These are roles that I am before I do — they encompass and embody the truths of my identity rather than my current occupation.
To be a parent, for example, is not the sole domain of a blue status tick that hovers over my name when I post on Twitter.
In the same way, a writer does not cease to be one between assignments or creative output. It’s not something I occupy for a season, and then move on to another pursuit when the wind changes direction, or the external environment shifts.
I will be a writer if I move to Antarctica, or if the sky falls down, or my favourite football team — Parramatta Eels — ever win a premiership in my remaining lifetime — three events I neither anticipate nor can scarcely imagine.
My point is, my identity and purpose are not something I am trialling for 30 days before my account is debited.
‘Pick any page’
I discovered my passion for writing as a young boy. I remember giving Mum a coffee table book — something large and dramatic like a collection of the past century’s LIFE magazine covers. ‘Pick any page,’ I would ask, ‘and I will write a story about the person’s photo I see, in 30 minutes!’
She did. I wrote. Many times.
Now, older, less physically able, my passion for the craft has not waned. If anything, it’s stronger, no matter how diverse or active the creative imagination is.
Why does it matter?
The way I look at life is that I am a writer even when I am texting my wife to say I am on the way home from the shops. I am a writer when I type a review for a restaurant. I am a writer when I show love through appreciative and affirming words in a birthday card for a daughter’s milestone.
I am a writer in every area of my life that involves words.
It means I often draft a text message in some other place away from the phone before actually sending it. I take the opportunity to think carefully and edit what I say to someone when I want to celebrate them.
I place an intentionality on all the words I construct, and it makes me a better writer, I hope, and I trust.
Today, rather than beating yourself up for the lack of writing in the last week, turn it around with a memory of how much care you took in answering a post on social media, or leaving a sticky note for a family member and hoping it would brighten their day.
Be the writer you are, always, everywhere.
That feeling of “never good enough” is such a hard thing to overcome and work against. You don’t have to meet any standard, there is no defined level you must achieve. You only need to be good enough for you! When I was a high school Maths teacher I use to get my students to stand on tables or chairs or the floor and we would chant (and clap) ten times “I’m good at Maths”. Every day we would do this. It was amazing the difference it made to my student’s attitudes to themselves. Did they ALL go on to be Professors of Melbourne University, no, but they all knew “they were good enough”. Positive self talk is not a sin it is necessity of living. 💕😊
I really love reading all your articles. Thank you for sharing your gift.
Particularly lovey the “writing game” you played with your mum. Did you ever keep any of those writing challenges? 😊💕