The Next Step: 'I'm a writer'

I’m a writer, so I need to write.

That’s what I’ve realized after all these years of deliberation, of trying to figure out my next step professionally. It’s an obvious conclusion that’s been in the back of my mind the entire time, but I resisted it, hoping a different light would turn on, a different epiphany would come to me. None have, so I’ve accepted what I’ve known all along.

The confluence of a couple things inspired this affirmation:

• I’ve written a number of blog posts by hand over the last few months, transcribing them onto my computer. With a pencil, pad, and notes, I’ve written book and movie reviews and started a few other posts when inspiration and the perfect lede struck. Writing by hand has been a liberating and refreshing break from sitting at my laptop, which I do for work eight hours every weekday.

• I stopped using the dictionary and thesaurus on my phone and computer, opting to use my print copies instead. They’re old (I bought both around 2000) but still do the job. I read that having easy access to information decreases the likelihood one will remember it, so I increased the difficulty level (perhaps only slightly) when seeking a definition or synonym. I plan to turn off spellcheck at some point too.

• I finally started reading Brewed Awakening by Joshua M. Bernstein, a book Bobblehead gave me for my birthday in 2011. Though some parts are a slog (I’ll get to that in the forthcoming review), others are infectious and inspirational. Bernstein’s writing is casual, crisp, and concise. It’s obvious he’s writing about something he’s passionate about.

• While writing my post about She’s All That, I searched through old copies of my high school newspaper for a contemporary review written by a teenager. I have every issue of the Little Hawk published when I was in high school (32 in all), so I browsed the copies from early 1999, when the film was in theaters. Though the LH did not review She’s All That, I got sucked into rediscovering the old issues and marveled at the content—all of it produced by high school students.

Each of those things has proven inspirational in its own way and made me realize writing and working with words (editing, proofreading, etc.) is what I should do next.

So what now? How do I go about writing for a living, if it’s even possible?

Those hard questions are why I was so hesitant to embrace writing as a career. However, I have time to find out and transition; I plan to start small and build up. I have a ton of ideas for features articles so that won’t be a problem (at the beginning). I need to consult a couple pros I know and research effective ways of pitching ideas to editors. Do I write the article first or approach publications with the idea and a plan?

I was also hesitant because my journalism career in college was a disaster. There were a lot of contributing factors, but I failed miserably and it has hung over me ever since. Though I exorcized many past demons while contributing to the Little Village, my college-newspaper nightmare made me leery of writing for a living.

But things are different now; I’ve learned a lot, so it’s time to move past that disaster and redeem myself. One thing I realized is I’m a features writer, not a daily news writer. I respect and admire those who can cover news every day because it’s something I can’t do. I need time to prepare, consider, and craft. Though I’ve pitched ideas, conducted interviews, and written stories in a single day, it’s not something I want to do. Deadlines suck no matter what—I’ll need to figure out a way to manage the anxiety they give me—but they’re easier to deal with when they’re one or two weeks away.

Speaking of anxiety, having more time to work on a piece does not cure the stress caused by unresponsive sources. It’s the one thing I could not handle both in college and when I wrote for the Little Village. It drove me crazy when sources did not return calls or respond to emails. It will drive me crazy again if I don’t figure out a way to deal with it. (Sources were very cooperative when I was in high school for some reason. I wonder how much of it had to do with the fact we mostly interviewed faculty, staff, and fellow students.)

It will take time to shake the rust off my note-taking skills. (I realized a while ago that nobody taught me how to take notes. It was never discussed in any journalism class I took, nor were any tips or advice offered by teachers, editors, or other writers.) I also need to invest in a new recorder (the microcassette recorder I bought in 2000 is kaput), but I don’t want to rely on it like I have in the past.

Though I have some things to figure out, it’s time to start doing this, time to finally move on and take the next step. It’s time to write.