A text about writing
Corona period has been a wake-up call.
Something about being alone, quiet, and confronting our own mortality made us all think about what we wanted and valued. For me it made me rekindle my long-lost love for writing.
Even so, I had trouble getting started. There are far too many resources available on "how to become a writer." It's exhausting. Especially considering the majority of them are get-rich-quick-get-a-lot-of-followers click-baits.
I discovered a variety of writing platforms, sites to pitch, and a plethora of themes that I am interested in. There are also a lot of loud voices out there discussing marketing, social media management, trends, and analytics. They made it appear to be a massive undertaking.
I simply couldn't concentrate or make a decision. I couldn't get started because I was afraid I'd make a mistake. I would choose wrongly.
But if there's one piece of useful advice for writing, that you find everywhere on the internet, is this: Just do it.
Like Nike.
Eventually, I decided on a topic, (tv, movies, and books) and a platform (Substack) and went for it. Six months later, here we are. Every week, I post a new text. I'm not sure where this is heading, but what matters is that I'm having fun with it. I started and I'm sticking to it.
Why write?
Like sand grains on a sandy beach, there are many quotes about writing. But a recent article by Helena Fitzgerald on Substack gave me another perspective on the topic. It felt extremely relatable so I'll transcribe it here:
“Virginia Woolf famously said that what is needed in order to write is a room of one's own and 500 pounds a year. Although the second item (roughly $40K in today's money) is probably the more important one, Woolf meant that writing can only happen successfully if the individual can free herself from social obligation. One reason she specified these conditions for women was that such obligations often cut more deeply into women's lives than into other people's; a woman getting a moment to herself was as unusual as her having an independent income. Solitude is an antidote to the kind of small talk that clogs the arteries between thought and expression. In most of life it is necessary to be polite; in writing it is necessary not to be. A room of one's own is wherever allows me to be impolite, tactless, and truthful because I can be alone.”
The burden to be polite and not take time for ourselves is ingrained in the way women are brought up. The needs of others are always prioritized. Having time is indeed a privilege, which, unfortunately, not everyone has. Maybe making writing one of the less diverse fields around.
Writing allows me to explore parts of my mind that I haven't explored before. It's the polar opposite of small conversation, with which I've always battled. It's getting right to the heart of the matter. Leaving behind any barriers on the first keyboard type.
What a liberating experience it is to write whatever comes to mind, as well as things that have been plaguing me for weeks. It feels like a release. A release from social constraints and a busy mind.
The pressure to succeed
I believe I have quite a positive relationship with this little endeavor of mine. It's nothing more than a hobby. I write because I want to and because it makes me happy. More significantly, I'd like to learn and experiment with it.
However, this does not deter me from believing I should be doing more to promote and grow it. Should I have an Instagram account? Perhaps TikTok? Why don't I do a podcast? Even if I try to ignore these “urges”, it still causes me some stress.
There's a lot of pressure to turn your pastime into a full-time job, to make it successful. Is this, however, something to aim for?
Although having money and time is vital for creative undertakings, as Woolfe phrased it, I'm still not convinced I want to be a full-time writer. Especially when making money from writing isn't easy.
What I'm certain of is that I don't want to worry about being successful, having followers, or overworking myself with promotions.
I don't want to crush something I enjoy over the pressure of making an income.
At the end of the day, the truth is that I write for the sake of writing. It's fantastic if others read it, especially if it leads to the discovery of new books, series, or films that I love. But I don't want to stress or force things.
And that's ok.
What to read?
The Artist's Way (Julia Cameron). This is a beloved self-help book by writers and creatives in general. If you ignore some of the new-age stuff and brush off Julia's sometimes self-centered views, it's a nice book. It is not a normal self-help book, though. It is structured as a course you do yourself over 10 weeks or so. Each week there's a written chapter and some exercises. I enjoyed going through it and doing the exercises and in the end, I think it did help me out. I know I said I don't read self-help, but this one I did kind of enjoyed.
What to watch?
Ruby Sparks (2012). Written and starred by Zoe Kazan, this somewhat indie love movie tells the story of Calvin, a successful and lonely writer that sees his novel's character brought to life as his girlfriend. It's an intriguing perspective on how guys sometimes idealize women and fail to recognize the person behind the idealized image they have in their heads. The movie explores the dangers of glorifying people and reducing them to ideas about who they are.
What to binge?
I would describe Valeria as a Spanish Sex and the City. It tells the story of Valeria, who has been struggling to write a novel. Once she starts having an affair and writing about it, her book starts to take form. Write about what you know, right?
After the huge success of La Casa de Papel, there has been an explosion of Spanish series on Netflix. This one is quite light and fun. An updated view on female friendship and modern struggles based in Madrid.
I'm just getting around to reading this now, a few weeks late, and as seems to happen you and I are on similar pages! I just reread "A Room of One's Own" (as you'll know from my own recent post), and am thinking a lot about finding time to write – and resisting all of the pat advice to writers out there, much of which seems to be about productivity and how to earn lots of money from your writing (less about how to enjoy it and how to make it good, in the sense of caring about the words). I'm glad you care, and love to read you!