How To Be a Writer In 6 Grueling Steps

What? You thought this was going to be easy?

In 2007, science fiction author John Scalzi put together a pretty good book on writing entitled You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop. While parts of the book may seem dated now, the title is pretty spot on.

For some people, it seems that being a writer is a fashion, not a vocation. I knew a lot of these folks back in my college days in the 80s. You could always spot a wannabe future novelist. They were the ones wearing tweed and drinking from Red Army flasks (except for the Beat revivalists who were into leather jackets and mixing valium with speed).

In short, I knew a lot of people who wanted to be writers but didn’t do much writing. I was one of them. I’ve still got the leather jacket to prove it.

But I wasn’t a real writer. I was a poser. I occasionally sat in coffee shops and bars scribbling into a notebook, but I had no idea why other than it’s what I thought I should be doing, and it looked kind of cool.

I eventually grew up. It took some time, and it took commitment to change, and many years of building discipline, but today when I look in the mirror, I can confidently say, “I’m a writer.”

How about you?

Forget what you think you know

Throw out your preconceived notions of what it means to be a writer.

If you think you need a leather jacket or a pipe, or a cat, or a wooden desk, or any other cliched prop, you’re wrong. All you need is something to write on and a place to do it. That place can be anywhere.

I’ve written in parking lots while waiting to pick someone up. I’ve written on trains and busses. I’ve written on my couch, at the kitchen table, the back porch, and the bathroom.

I’ve written in libraries.

I’ve written in bars.

I’ve written on balconies,

and under the stars.

And I promise not to break into cheap doggerel again. I just couldn’t resist that one time.

In any case, there is no one way to be a writer except to put in the work. It doesn’t matter what you look like. It matters what you do.

Treat it like a job

By that, I mean don’t expect to be enjoying every minute of it. And don’t expect to look forward to every time you sit down to write.

There will be days you absolutely dread sitting down to write, but you do so anyway because it’s the job you chose, not a hobby. If you expect to improve your skills and grow as a writer, you’re going to have to deal with the days when you’re not feeling motivated or days when you’re feeling frustrated or even angry. You’re going to have to suck it up and get your butt into a chair and get to writing.

And if you’ve committed to a specific schedule, stick to it — just as you would a schedule at a traditional job. Best Buy doesn’t care if you don’t feel like coming in that day. Neither should your writing.

On the plus side, it does get easier and more enjoyable over time. I know writers (ones with a measure of success and good income) who have, over decades, become so accustomed to their daily writing schedule they arrange their holidays around their writing, not the other way.

Be willing to make meaningful change to your lifestyle

When I finally decided to become the writer I had always wanted to be, I had to make a major lifestyle change.

I quit drinking.

My name is John, and I’m an alcoholic. It’s been over 20 years since I’ve last had a drink. I made my first professional writing sale 19 years ago.

Connection?

Well, yeah.

Quitting drinking was a significant lifestyle change. New habits, new friends, new social interactions. All that changed when I decided being a writer was more important to me than getting perpetually blotto.

Your lifestyle change might be different. It might be in how you interact with friends and family. It might be how you approach your day job. It might be where or how you live.

Be prepared for this, and embrace it. Most people who take the plunge into creative fields with any seriousness often find their passion takes priority. You may alienate or anger some people, but you’ll also find new people.

You have to decide if it’s worth it. If so, you then have to decide to make that change and stick to it.

Every day, godammit. Every goddamn day.

It seems like this is the third time I’ve brought up pretty much the same concept. That doesn’t make it any less relevant.

If you want to succeed as a writer, you need to commit.

And I’ll apologize now for making it sound like becoming a writer is some kind of awful form of self-torture. It is, and it isn’t. That is to say, as with anything worthwhile, there are going to be some challenges. Committing to a daily habit of writing is one of them.

In fact, don’t look at it as a habit. Don’t look at it as an obligation, either.

Look at it as an investment.

The trick with investments, though, is you need perseverance.

Stay strong.

A distraction-free environment

This seems like an easy piece of advice, but it can be surprisingly challenging. I’m a bit of a media addict. The TV is almost always on. If the TV isn’t on, I’m streaming music, news, or podcasts off my smart home device.

I get very little writing done with the TV on — even if it’s something bland and uninteresting. But I also like background noise.

My solution has been to play music but at a low-to-moderate volume. I can tune it out and work distraction-free. As a result, my productivity goes up.

Unfortunately, it means I’m behind on a lot of television shows and movies I want to see. But then I have to ask what is more important to me.

The writing is more important.

So I go without the TV for hours on end.

Some people would benefit from also not having the music on.

The challenge comes in that were are so used to distractions — big and small — that turning them all off can be jarring. But just about every writer I’ve talked with about this has confirmed that once you get used to writing without distractions, the more productive you become.

If you have roommates or family making noise, you have to find a quiet part of the home to work and be firm about noise and other interruptions. This can be hard. There is some truth to the cliche of writers being challenging to live with. But if you can manage a relatively distraction-free environment in which to work, you’ll get a lot more done.

Write with purpose

Why do you write? Why are you writing what you’re writing?

Come up with the answers to these questions, and you’re that much closer to being a writer.

(Not all of these lessons need to be lengthy.)

“Lighten up, Francis”

Bonus points for anyone who recognizes the movie quote. It serves as a reminder that writing is a vocation we’ve chosen willingly. That it’s not a punishment. It’s, instead, a blessing.

You just have to do it to be it. In Seth Godin’s book The Practice: Shipping Creative Work, he talks about how action leads to being. If you consistently and faithfully follow through with the act of writing, you can call yourself a writer.

At no time have I suggested that you had to be paid for it.

It’s nice. It serves as validation that others put enough value in your work to fork over cash. But it’s not a requirement.

Just make a daily commitment to write for a significant portion of time. Stick to that commitment. Have an idea as to why you’re doing what you’re doing, and keep following through.

And that’s it.

You’re a writer.

What you do with that superpower now is up to you.

Thank you for reading. I’d love to share more with you via my Bi-Weekly Word Roundup newsletter sent to subscribers every other Sunday. It will feature news, productivity tips, life hacks, and links to top stories making the rounds on the Internet. You can unsubscribe at any time.