My parents gave me a subscription to THE WRITER magazine when I was a kid. Years later, as an adult, I shyly checked out writing books from the library. You’d think I was checking out something indecent, but laying the books on the check-out counter felt like hubris.
It was hard to meet the librarian’s eyes. I mean, if anyone knows what a writer looks like, it’s a librarian.
The other day, I wondered why there are so few writing magazines published in Germany. There are magazines in every other possible subject. Photography magazines fill a wall at the train station bookshop. But writing magazines are rare to nonexistent. My native German husband said, “In Germany, writing is not for amateurs. People don’t do it as a hobby.”
That stung for a moment because, of course, I am an amateur. On the other hand, I’m not shy about checking out writing books from the library anymore. But I still don’t go up to the bookstore owners and ask where the writing section is.
Bookstore owners probably also know what writers look like.
Ironically, too many craft books can make us doubt ourselves even more. I won’t stop reading them any time soon, because I get insights that help. But when those insights start to feel like a blur, make the internal editor too loud, and keep me from “shipping,” it’s time to take action.
So how do you keep your writing tools in line?
- Learn selectively about structure and point of view and character arcs and all kinds of other theories, not all at once. If you get consistent feedback, find tools that might help, study them, and pick one to try. Don’t be a snob about tools you don’t understand. You may need them some day. On the other hand, writing tools that don’t excite you to write should find a new home.
- Purge electronic writing tools and writing e-mail newsletter subscriptions. Your to-do list is already long enough. If I list everything the writing newsletters suggest, I feel overwhelmed and come to a creaking stop.
- Risk. Pick one contest/tool/assignment that feels risky and try it. Risk is the antidote to the full toolbox’s illusion of readiness. It takes courage and that makes you feel like a writer again.
- Ship. Write something you owe and make it public. This is even better if you write something that someone wants: a thank you letter, a birthday card, a promised blog post. Don’t read writing books instead of writing. It will make you feel like a liar.
- Choose your mentors carefully. Find work you like and then see how it works. Only take craft advice from people who are after the same things you are. If they don’t write what you want to write, but their advice sounds really, really good, test their theories on work from a writer you admire.
- Critique a writing partner’s work. Admire what they do well. Take courage that they are also still learning.
- Anarchy. Write something and break a writing rule you know is “true”.
- Enjoy. Read something you enjoy and admire in the genre you’re writing in. Reading good writing brings me joy, gives me rest, and inspires me to imitate it.
- Read blog posts about publishing minutiae after you reach your writing goal for the day. You’ll enjoy them much more.
- Go write. The best cure is to write. It’s no different for any other profession. Read too many gardening books without digging in the dirt and you get imposter syndrome. Linger a little too long in Williams & Sonoma’s fancy kitchen shop and you’ll end up ordering out for pizza. The way of the amateur is to love the writing itself. Get thee to a keyboard.
LAUREL DECHER writes stories about all things Italian, vegetable, or musical. Beloved pets of the past include “Stretchy the Leech” and a guinea pig that unexpectedly produced twins. She’s famous for a nonexistent sense of direction, but carries maps because people always ask her for directions. When she’s not lost, she can be found on Twitter and on her blog, This Is An Overseas Post, where she writes about life with her family in Germany. She’s still a Vermonter and an epidemiologist at heart. PSA: Eat more kale! 🙂 Her short fiction for adults, UNFORESEEN TIMES, originally appeared in Windhover.