Let go of the reins of your story

I shudder to think what would have happened if I had submitted one of the stories I write nowadays for a GCSE English class.

 

That's the secret, isn't it?

 

GEEZ! Seriously? What a way to stifle creativity.

 

Everyone does to start. Absolutely everybody. The only way to get better is to practice a lot. I think the problem is that a lot of people just want to be good at it without trying. It doesn't work that way. If you want to play in the NFL, you have to get out there and play a lot. Practice constantly. Push yourself to get better and never give up. It needs to be a central part of your life. You need to jump out of bed in the morning and think "this is what I'm going to get done today!" That's how I am. The second my eyes open, I'm running through a mental list of what I have to get done. I know what I need to accomplish in my book and I don't stop until I'm done. It's how success is made. If you wake up thinking that you'll do whatever you do and it doesn't matter, then you won't succeed, not just in writing but in life. Those are the people who spend their lives as a cashier at Walmart. They never go anywhere because they have no ambition. Writing requires ambition. It requires being realistic. It requires knowing that first drafts, at least at the beginning, will be terrible. They do get better as time goes on, but only if you work hard and earn it. There are way too many lazy people with unrealistic expectations who think they're going to be the next Stephen King by this time next week. They will not be successful.

 

Well, that's those cashiers at Walmart told...

 

Although I have no problem with anyone working at Walmart or doing what they have to to get by, I agree with the rest of this completely. I worked so hard to get to where I am, but I think writing in general is a content challenge. And, really, to get better you have to write a bunch of bad stuff to be able to write the good stuff. That's how I am. I also made a decision to become a writer or maybe I always had it in me, but it took so much effort to not suck. Would I do it again if I knew how much work it would take and still takes and will always take? I don't really know if I can answer that question. I've had my dreams come true and my heart crushed, but I didn't let it stop me from endlessly trying to get it right. Like @Cephus I know what I have to do. I have that mental list going on, too. I also totally agree with the ambition part, though, personally I also believe in being overly ambitious while putting in the work to reach those writing dreams. You can't be lazy, at least not for too long, and you really have to focus and practice and fail. And the publishing world is quite slow. No one is in a rush to read your manuscript and when they do things aren't accepted on the spot. Anyway, becoming a writer means writing no matter what method you use to get those words down on the page. There's really no way around that.

 

That's one of the reasons I dropped out of Uni. I hate writing essays in timed exams because, ultimately, I'm an editor. I edit these posts, often after posting. I even edit emails. I'd draft out the essay and then start changing and changing until it was a huge mess. Exams don't allow for drafting, especially not when the time doesn't allow you to re-write. Yeah, I could plan it better but still...

 

Walmart is a fine place to start your career, it isn't where you want to spend your entire career, especially making close to minimum wage. Anyone who wants to be successful in life, they have to be willing to work their backsides off and struggle to get ahead. You have to do more than the minimum. Anyone who won't, they're going to be still ringing crap up at Walmart when they're 50.