I've received several e-mails (you can reach me at mary@marymartin.net) from people who know, deep down, that they are writers, but who haven't tried to write anything (for publication or otherwise), and haven't tried to get a job that involves writing.
I have nothing to say other than: What are you waiting for? Do you need permission? And if so, from whom? Is some person in your life supposed to acknowledge your writer-ness, after which time you'll find it acceptable to write? Do you feel like if your job involves writing that doesn't make you a real writer (I suffered from that one for years)? Is it that the sheer quantity of writers in the world is so intimidating that you can't possibly imagine anything good coming of you beginning to write (when there are already millions of writers)?
First, let me say that you're not writing for anyone else, unless your job is to write. And if you are actually getting paid to write, you should consider yourself lucky because for every job you do and get paid for, there are writers who would agree to do the same job without pay, just for the experience.
If you are writing for yourself, you aren't in competition with anyone else. It doesn't matter how many romance novelists there are. If what's screaming to get out of you is a romance novel, What are you waiting for? Write!
An exercise I'm fond of doing with my clients is The Excuse List. List all of the reasons you haven't begun (or finished) writing whatever it is you want to write. Then, play devil's advocate with yourself and address each of your excuses. I promise you, it will be very easy to debunk all of the myths you've created for yourself that allow you to not pursue what you say you want to pursue.
Confront all of your excuses and, next to each one, write the objection to your excuse that makes it look ludicrous (that's how it usually happens). No one else is watching. Be honest with yourself and put all of your excuses to rest, once and for all (or at least for today). Finally, ask yourself: Am I able to devote 20 minutes to writing today? No? How about 10? Whatever number you come up with, write for that period of time, today. Then tomorrow write for that period of time, as well. If you can't, ask yourself why not? Repeating The Excuse List exercise will take at least a couple of minutes. Wouldn't you rather use that time to write?
What Are You Waiting For? Write!
