Graphic by brenda delgado
Graduating with a BA in English in 2023 is … a trip. Most of my conversations leading up to graduation included well-meaning but terrifying advice from professors. My personal favorite was when a creative writing professor of mine told the entire class point-blank, “Most of you will not be successful writers.” It was the first day of class. I also endured the gambit of questions from Real Adults about my plan after graduation, what I planned to do with my degree or even what I liked/wanted to write about. When my ever-confident response of, “Uh … a little bit of everything,” didn’t satisfy, I got the horrible, phony smile accompanied by, “Well, you’ve got time to figure it out.”
The truth is, I don’t know the exact way to summarize my love for writing and literature in a way that won’t keep people in a two-hour-long conversation. Being a writer was the first thing I was ever sure of in my life. I went around my second-grade classroom with copies of Junie B. Jones and declared myself a writer. By seventh grade, I set the incredibly unrealistic goal of moving to New York City and publishing my first novel by 21. I’m 22 and haven’t published any novels or moved to New York, but I’m still a writer because people believed me the first time I said it all those years ago in Mrs. Morris’ second-grade class.
My mom would set aside any extra notebooks from her graduate programs for me to scribble stories into. My dad sat and listened to me use big words I’d read in books but actually had no idea how to pronounce. Nobody ever told me I couldn’t or shouldn’t pursue writing, which made all the difference. Supporting creativity in children is also great for their development. According to a Michigan State University study, children whose parents supported their creativity get practice with fine motor skills, patterning, cause and effect, math, and language skills. Artists who receive support from their community are more likely to continue creating. The more people creating allows our society to constantly garner new conversations, ideas and movements. Art begets art begets art.
However, circling back to what my creative writing professor said on the first day of class, support and success can be hard to come by. As much as I want to argue with him, there is some truth to it. If we’re talking about commercial success, then yes, it’s very rare to sell enough stories to make it your sole financial venture. Publishing is a hard thing to get into. Not impossible, but very hard. Being an artist in a world that only focuses on how they can capitalize off your art is one of the hardest things to come to terms with. But success can be categorized in other ways beyond the monetary. Finding the courage to put my words out into the endless world and hoping they find the right people is a success for me. Opening my heart and pulling out my most divine pieces for others to critique is no small feat.
I spend hours every week writing, and for every piece I write that ends up making it through to publication, 10 more are sitting in my notes app that didn’t make the cut. Even then, there are notebooks full of writing that will probably never see the light of day. I bounce between genres a little too fast for some people’s liking. I’m too long-winded to be a poet. I’m too poetic to be a journalist. I’m too happy to write horror or literary fiction (if you laughed at this, please know this is an actual note I received from a professor). I will never be everybody’s cup of tea, and it’s taken years to come to terms with that.
So, I guess that’s why I’m writing this at 11 o’clock at night after spending hours staring at a Word doc and googling synonyms for whisper. To tell other writers that it’s OK — nay, encouraged — to find joy in your writing. Even if you’re scribbling shitty love poems about someone who broke your heart to get it all out. Even if you’re writing and planning an eight-book high fantasy series while working as a server. Even if it’s not your plan to seek publication in any form. Creating for the sake of creating is one of the most beautiful things we can do. And in the 14 years since I first declared myself a writer, I’ve accumulated some tried and true techniques and sayings I repeat to myself, like Jack Nicholson in “The Shining.” May they offer you wisdom and a little less heartbreak.
Writing advice:
- You are an artist, even if you’re not actively creating.
- Done is better than perfect.
- Gardeners use rotted fruit to compost their gardens. Some say it makes the next batch of tomatoes a little better. A little sweeter. No tomato is ever wasted. No writing is ever wasted. If you wrote it, it’s worth keeping. Create and keep a “Graveyard” doc where all your cut/deleted writing can go to rest. Who knows what it might come back as.
- If you keep getting stuck on a first draft, stop thinking about what a potential audience might think is good. Focus on what you think would be the most fun to write and write that. First drafts are for you, not your readers.
- “Nothing is ever original anymore, so why even try?” Because you haven’t tried yet. In a million years, planets and galaxies, there will never be another person who can tell the exact story you’re thinking of.
- Everybody is on their own creative journey and will stumble and fall along the way. Don’t be a dick. Be kind or shut up.
- Write the representation you wish to see.
- Holy shit, please stop being so mean to yourself. You are one person on such a big planet, and the world is already mean enough. Give yourself some grace and maybe drink some water.
- Working on multiple projects at the same time is great for preventing writer’s block. Exercise your brain. Write that fluffy romance novel AND the horrifying short story.
- Leave Easter eggs for only your loved ones to identify. There is beauty in finding pieces shaped like them in your work.
Most importantly, I want you to know it is an honor and a privilege to be alive and create at the same time as you. How beautiful is it to find something as small as a grain of salt and find meaning, beauty and comfort in it. How serendipitous. Somebody should write something about it.