What I Would Tell My Younger Self

About halfway through my first year as a yearbook adviser, I got a sinking sense of loss: why hadn’t anyone ever told me to take a journalism class?

I loved English and was a solid “A” ELA and social studies student. I had expressed my desire to someday be an English teacher. While I was not the best writer in my high school graduating class, I rarely got anything but praise from my teachers and peers. So why hadn’t anyone challenged me to do something more with my writing?

There are probably a multitude of reasons why I was never encouraged to be anything more than a good academic writer. My parents were proud of my academic accomplishments, but they would have never suggested I do anything different than pursue a career in education. In fact, I didn’t even know that my mom had been on her high school’s yearbook staff until I was teaching my own crew of “Yerds.” As is typical in the American education system, regardless of how good the teacher is, there was only a slim chance that I would have a teacher suggest I try something different than a career in education. In the 90s, education was still a favorable and respected career, even if the pay was low and the workload high. It was a safe bet for a bright, driven student like myself.

But six years of teaching students how to write yearbook copy and editing the work that was submitted for publication taught me something that my previous twelve years in education had not: writers need to be encouraged to write a variety of forms, regardless of the limited professional opportunities available.

Would my life have been different if I had been encouraged to submit more of my undergraduate work for publication? What if I had started blogging right as it took off as a form of communication? What if I had started my Instagram account at the same time as my Facebook page? What if I had been using Twitter for years before I finally picked up my account in the wake of the 2016 election? 

I could allow those occasional questions and regrets to consume me. But usually, I’m able to look at who I am now as a person and writer and admit that maybe the timing is right for the writing that I am doing now. Maybe I wasn’t ready for the vulnerability of having my words out there for the public to consume.

And in the better moments, I instead choose to use those lessons that I’ve learned in over four decades of life to pass along wisdom to the students who are sitting in my classroom, or the fellow younger writers I meet online.

What would I tell myself if I could?

You are a writer

Do you write? Then you are a writer.

There is this capitalistic idea that the only way you can call yourself a writer is if you can put “writer” down as your occupation on tax forms.

The problem with this mindset is that the vast majority of writers who make money from their writing still have jobs outside of the world of writing. When I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic, I felt like I was finally given permission to write as a vocation in addition to my profession as a teacher. While there are times that my career and personal life get in the way of my writing, my computer is always there waiting for me on a quiet Saturday morning when we don’t have to run off to kids’ events or when I need to vent after a long day of grading. 

Even if you have never published in a print or online publication, you are still a writer if you write with any amount of regularity. If you have a story to tell and an audience (even if it is an audience of one), you are still a writer.

It takes time

Overnight success is a fallacy that has more to do with very rare dumb luck as opposed to skill. Most writers who are fortunate enough to write full-time for a living will tell you that it only happened after years of rejections and radio silence.

He never stopped writing and he never stopped submitting the work, no matter how many rejection letters he received. In the process he learned how to become a better writer, learning to craft stories that others would want to read en masse.

Most writers are not born with words pouring out of them. They have to work at the craft by reading everything they can get their hands on and writing every time they have the chance. Sometimes we don’t know what we want to say until we have written pages and pages of nonsense, the answers to our written questions working themselves out on the page.

Not everything has to be published right away

Life experience matters. That does not mean that the only way you can become a successful writer is if you experience some kind of traumatic event that you can turn into a bestseller. What it does mean is that it is time to break up with a social media mentality that everything we are thinking and feeling is ready for immediate public consumption.

Start with a journal so that you can get your thoughts down. Then move those ideas to your blog space. The blog is making a comeback, of sorts, and those of us who never left our blogs alone are finding new life in drafting and crafting our words.

I’ve always treated my blog as a workshop space for bigger ideas and more detailed work down the road. , in a newsletter directed toward new writers, encourages those just starting out to see places like Substack (or any other writing platform) as a place to “stay creative” and see what their writing looks like before pursuing an audience. The Internet has taught us to be impatient. Perhaps it is time for us to learn how to let our writing breathe before putting it out into the world.

Network with other writers

If you are young and you want to be a writer, start looking for opportunities to write in a community. Take a creative writing class, join the school yearbook staff, or find out if there are still opportunities with your local newspaper. Maybe see if there are summer writing camps or programs near home,

If you are older, look for other networking opportunities. Look for adult workshops and programs, such as those hosted by the National Writing Project. Participate in book launch teams. Join a writing group. Keep in touch with your high school journalism classmates or college writing group mates and ask them if they are willing to read something that you’ve written. And then return the favor. Share those Google Docs and watch your writing transform.

Give yourself some grace

You’re going to have good periods and bad periods. There will be times when you have all the time in the world to write, and times when you can barely function. Take time to not write and do other things that will make you a better writer. Spend time with friends and family so that you remember who you are writing for in the first place. Read a variety of genres. Listen to podcasts and audiobooks. Go for a hike through the woods or sit in a local coffee shop and people-watch. I find that when my work as a teacher has me bogged down with lesson planning and grading, I just don’t have the creative energy to write. But once that slate is cleared, the words just flow. Finish the tasks in front of you, get a good night’s sleep, and then see what comes out in the morning. The words will come to you eventually.

When I see a student who is a bright writer, I don’t encourage them to pursue it as a profession because they are still figuring out who they are and their role in the world. Instead, I encourage them to keep looking for opportunities to grow and discover who they could be. The same is true for you.

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