I could write a whole book dissecting why becoming a writer is such a common professional aspiration. The issue isn’t that there’s something wrong with wanting to make money as a writer (there isn’t) or that there are too many writers (no such thing).
Where many aspiring writers hit the hardest barriers has everything to do with the misconceptions surrounding what “being a writer” is really like. As long as you’re willing to face the reality that your exact dreams many not fit your reality, you’re ready to start writing. Anyone can be a writer in the general sense. You just may not have what it takes to be the exact kind of writer you’ve always imagined becoming (and that, it turns out, is totally okay and normal!).
Not Everyone Is Built For Professional Writing
and this does not mean that being a writer is completely off the table for you, either. When I first started this blog, I had my mind and heart set on becoming a novelist. It was the only thing I could see myself doing. I even spent more time in high school and college writing than I did studying (in some ways, that ended up working out for me in the end). I thought that was my path. I was convinced, and I was determined.
It took over a decade for me to figure out that fiction writing just isn’t my strength. I love doing it, and I get a little better at it every time I sit down to practice. It’s possible that someday I could eventually write a good novel, and maybe that good novel could get published. But the more I came to realize I probably wasn’t destined to become a novelist after all, the more I focused my writing energy in areas that were more professionally beneficial for me.
I made a career out of writing. Just not in the way I originally planned.
The reality is, while anyone can write and many can learn to write well, writing as a profession just isn’t for everyone. That’s OK. Some can find a career that allows them to exercise their writing muscles, and some may eventually realize that writing is something they enjoy doing, but not something they’re going to make a living off of. That doesn’t make someone any less of a writer. The only prerequisite for calling yourself a writer, after all, is that you are actively writing. It doesn’t matter if you’re just writing for yourself — that still counts.
What Does It Take to Write Professionally?
Writing well is only a small part of professional writing. “Having written” is also a small piece of the puzzle. You can be a skilled, experienced writer and still struggle to make it your career, and though I hate to tell you this, so much of that is out of your control. Sometimes, a writing career is more about luck and connections than most of us want to admit.
But what’s more important than all of that is the mental and emotional resilience required to not only break into professional writing, but also to stay there. This is something most writers do not have — even the best and most promising storytellers out there. Most of the time, writing is not fun. It is work that has to get done. Writing is extremely draining even when you love doing it — if you write for eight hours a day, you will feel it in your body, soul, and mind. and writing professionally will make you want to quit writing. Not because it’s not worth it, but instead because, I have to be honest here. It’s generally a lot of work for not much reward. It takes extreme patience, persistence, and internal motivation to keep going, day after day.
Not everyone can take that. and it’s not because they don’t deserve to make money writing or that they’re not good at it. Professional writing is so much less about skill and craft and far more about having the strength to push yourself past your limits to tell exceptional stories.
You can do that if you really try. But you have to go in knowing that it’s not for everyone — it might not even be for you. Unfortunately, you might not figure this out until you’re in it. It’s how we learn what we do and don’t want to put ourselves through for the sake of craft, or money, or fame.
But In the End, Who Makes It Through?
The best writers and editors I know have more than earned their places in digital and traditional publishing. Storytelling, for many people, is a job, and like most jobs, there are going to be unflattering elements that make the work feel like work (no matter how much you might love it). BUT. That’s one of the things that makes the job worth the battle scars.
Passion alone is not enough. Skill alone is not enough. It’s not enough to have written a lot, to know everything about an industry, to network. It’s a complex combination of all these things and more, all at once, that lead to a successful writing career. Especially for members of marginalized communities, you additionally have to be “likable” and “presentable” on top of everything else. It’s not fair, and it’s exhausting. But it’s also capitalism.
I believe that if you’re reading this, you really do have what it takes to make money as a writer and fulfill your professional dreams. You just have to be willing to face the harsh realities of a writing career and be willing to adjust your ambitions accordingly. Maybe you once dreamed of writing novels, and perhaps you don’t anymore. But that doesn’t mean you won’t find another way to turn your love and skill for writing into a career somehow.
There’s so much more to writing success — and who generally “gets” to succeed in writing — that I haven’t touched on in this post. The short version is that what works for one person might not work for you. Someone else might have something that you don’t. But you might have things many others don’t have and never will, and you can find a way to make those things work to your advantage.
This post is not meant to discourage anyone from pursuing a career in writing. But the more realistic you are about what you can and WANT to achieve as a writer, the more energy you will be able to dedicate toward pursuing the best possible and most rewarding writing path for you.
Meg Dowell is the creator of Brain Rush, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words, and Not a Book Hoarder, celebrating books of all kinds. She is an editor, writer, book reviewer, podcaster, and photographer passionate about stories and how they get made. Learn more
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