It'll Be Okay

Honestly, the hardest thing about writing is just the self-doubt and the pressure (guilt) of it. I feel awful every day that I don't write or read because of all of those authors who stare you down with their quotes and tell you that you'll never be an author if you don't do both EACH and EVERY day. And if I don't do that then, along with the guilt, I begin to wonder if I am a writer after all. To be completely honest, I think a lot of authors are liars and do a lot more damage to people's confidence than actually boosting it. If it took J.K. Rowling 17 years to write one novel, do you believe she wrote or read EVERY SINGLE DAY? It is such an unachievable committment when you're in school or have a full time job or both! Your brain hurts by the end of the day and sometimes you just cannot commit to it.
I believe in individual people not in rules or circumstance. I believe that if someone wants to write they will... in their own time and in their own way. I believe in PEOPLE. Some writers say follow the rules- read every day and write every day, while others tell you there are no secret rules of success to writing. I'm the latter. We are individuals for a reason. If the same thing were possible and worked for all of us, then we would probably lack all originality and everyone would probably be a writer. And well... completing two books in three years isn't bad. Three? Four? We can't all be a James Patterson *eye roll*.
So if you're going to take advice from a writer, take it from me. Ignore them. There is no reason to take their words for gospel when you are attempting to be your own kind of writer with your own individual voice. I'm a creative writing major with a minor in business and public policy. Many people have asked me my major and after I told them what it was would go, "Oh." Oh? Most of them wouldn't ask anymore question and would drop the topic completely, while some pursue an argument.  Listen, in this day and age, everyone and their dead relatives has an opinion to force down your throat. It's best to look them in the eyes and say, "I want to be that person who, ten years from now, can honestly say that I have never worked a day in my life because I love my job so much."

The lesson here is- do whatever the heck makes you happy. Life can either be about making enough money to live on or being happy enough that you've actually LIVED and THRIVED instead of just sustaining yourself. Life can be so many things, you might as well go through it doing what you  love.

With Love,
SKW