When can I call myself a real writer? by Joanne Gilchrist

 

Hello! I’m Joanne and this is my first blog post for More than Writers.

In 2014, I believed God was calling me to write. My youngest daughter started preschool so I saved three precious hours a week to put two book-ideas into words. Later that year, I wrote ‘writer’ on my tax return for the first time but I didn’t yet have any published work to my name, no website or mailing list. How could I be a real writer?

I went to the library for books on ‘how to be a writer’ which all told me –‘Don’t waste your time, it’s a dying trade’. I Ignored them and bought myself a copy of ‘Writers and Artists Yearbook 2015’ instead.

I didn’t feel like a real writer yet. I wrote it on my tax returns as my job but I never said it out loud.

I thought… once I’ve published a book, then I’m a real writer.

I was published in 2017. But I still didn’t feel like a writer yet.

When I’m a successful writer, then I’ll be a real writer, I thought.

But what’s a successful writer? How many books must you sell to feel successful? Is it enough if I break even or do I have to make a profit or even a living to feel like a writer?

Or is it something less materialistic? Perhaps if someone quotes my work back to me or if someone tells me that God has spoken to them through my writing, will I feel like a real writer then?

The threshold I’m at right now is an ironic one  – I’m so busy promoting my published works that I hardly ever have time to actually write. Oh, I write emails and social media posts and press releases to try to sell my books and share my work, but I have to make a huge effort to carve out time to do the kind of writing that I love. So how can I possibly be a real writer now?

Perhaps one day I’ll return to the simple joy of writing for writing’s sake and then I’ll be a real writer.

So the threshold of success, the magical moment when I can finally feel like I'm a ‘real writer’ will always be... the next one.

And therein lies the problem. Like climbing a mountain: when you think you’ve reached the summit only to find that it’s not the summit and you have to keep climbing… at what point are you a climber? When you reach the top of the mountain and stop climbing? Was Edward Hilary only a climber after he conquered Everest?  No, you’re a climber when you take your first step onto the foothills of that mountain with a view to going up it.

And that’s when you’re a writer too. The first time you jot your thoughts into words just because they longed to be written, you became a writer too. Whether you’ve just started on the foothills or striving up Everest, don’t wait till you’ve reached the top to call yourself a writer because there’s always one more summit ahead.

Joanne Gilchrist is mother of 3 and runs the charity, Ruach Resources, which is the home of God for Kids app and the Animals of Eden Valley series (a series of one at the moment - called "Who Made God?" - but I'm working on it!). 

She also wrote the autobiographical "Looking for Love" and freelances for the SunScool app.