This is a bit off the beaten path for me. My focus on this blog is media, not the people behind the media, but I feel the need to discuss this today as I consider my role as a creator.
As of November of last you I was a writer. Granted, I was terrified of ever using the term to reference myself until a couple months ago. I was a writer because I wrote with the intention of finishing a novel. I am a writer because I struggle each day to both create new prose and work on what I’ve already written. I will continue to be a writer as long as I stay on this path and writing remains one of my priorities in life. No, I’m not published. With any luck, I will be one day. Even if I never get one of my novels published, I will still be a writer.
Why I Write
I write because there are a million ideas brimming in my head that need to come out. There is always something new or interesting that brims in my head before it finally explodes and just has to come out. But I know that my personal obsession with writing stems from a dream of escapism. I live in my own fantasy world that is far more preferable to real life. So, instead of facing the grim reality before me, I create the fantastic. I relish in it. Each obscure world and fantastic creatures that inhabit my stories are ways for me to break away from the truth that faces me. Most importantly though, I write because that is what I was meant to do and deep down in my heart I know that it’s the truth. I wouldn’t have been writing little novels when I was little. I wouldn’t take to writing notes and short stories when I feel trapped and unable to express how I am feeling in any other way. I write because it is my outlet to be understood.
Debunking Common Perceptions
Many people think that being a writer is totally solitary. They imagine a scenario like Johnny Depp’s character in Secret Window. A writer is supposed to be locked up alone in some cabin with no friends and only a typewriter and maybe a cat to keep them company. Sure, I have a cat, she’s absolutely adorable in fact, but I also have an attention seeking little dachshund who always wants to cuddle just when I pull out my laptop to write. And as for being solitary, I am a bit more solitary than others. But I was like that before I started writing. In fact, since I started writing, I have been interacting with more people. You can’t get feedback on how your latest scene reads from a cat.
She is cute, eh?
My Writing Reality
I am far from delusional when it comes to the reality of what may await me and my writing down the line. I know that most authors don’t make buku money and have the ability to simply quit their day job. I’m not expecting to be the next J.K. Rowling or Stephen King, although I wouldn’t mind. I do think that at the rate I am progressing with my craft, I will manage to be published in my lifetime. It’s a good thing I started early, I have 40 some, or more, years to achieve this goal. Becoming a published author is all that I can work towards at the moment. Once I achieve that, then I can work on becoming the next Neil Gaiman and start writing scripts too. Or heck, maybe I could get into comics too. (Yes, I really do envy Gaiman).
Do you consider yourself a writer? Why do you write? What are some of your writing goals and dreams?
So, I pondered... 
I consider myself a writer, even though I haven’t written anything that has been recently published in years. But I write everyday still and as long as it makes me happy, I continue to write. It’s definitely hard work and something that non writers find difficult to understand when they come home to a house that’s cluttered and dinner is not made because you had to capture the scene and the mood before they got away.
I envy Gaiman, too 🙂
Being a writer is an interesting mindset. People just dont understand.
Gaiman is my idol. I want to be him. I want to write comics and screenplays.