Here’s How To Start Your Writing Career
I’ve always known that I wanted to write.
I know this for a fact because I have distinct memories of being a child and my unbelievably hardworking, blue-collar Italian immigrant grandparents not understanding the concept.
“You wanna be a write?” asked my nonna. The word writer, in her mind at least, didn’t have an r on the end of it.
“Yeah. I love writing,” I’d respond.
“Why you no be a loyah or electrish? They make lots-a money, you know?”
By loyah she meant lawyer of course. And electrish was her best attempt at electrician. God, I love her.
Writing as a career was never pragmatic enough for her or for most people. Even for my parents who were much more, shall we say, Canadian about their views on employment, they didn’t understand how it’d pay the bills.
Fair enough. A man’s gotta eat. A man’s gotta feed his family and put a roof over their heads. Most writers aren’t great at those kinds of things.
Writers galivant, they think a lot, they’re sedentary and often lonely. Sure, those are sterotypes but they’re true to a degree.
For every one Tolkien, Rowling, and King, is ten million writers whose drafts that never made it to print.
Determined to make writing a career, I knew I’d have to think outside the box.
How do I fulfill this burning desire to tell stories through words?
Well, that’s probably, at least in part, why you’re here.
Writers aren’t writers
I realise how confusing that statement is: writers aren’t writers.
Can you venture a guess what I mean by that?
I mean the word writer is associated with someone who writes books but being a writer can mean so much more than being a person who wrires books.
A writer can mean you are a:
- Copywriter
- Digital content writer
- Blogger
- Journalist
- Poet
- Playwright
- Twitter personality
- Email marketer
- Essayist
And umpteen other job titles for people who make a living off the words they churn out.
The internet, for all its faults, has made writers of all of us.
From an Instagram post to a direct message to an email, we’re all pounding out hundreds if not thousands of words a day. Your job is to monetise those words and make a gig out of it.
How to start on your path to becoming a writer
There are two steps to becoming a writer and both are easy and can be done for free.
- Decide what you want to write about. Your topic.
- Pick a medium that’ll host your words and a medium that’ll broadcast your words (they can sometimes be the same medium).
Example #1: You decide you want to write about electric vehicles (that’s your topic). Great! In this example, you will start a blog as a medium to host your words and use Twitter as a medium that allows you to share your blog with the world.
Example #2: You love shoes. Here, you decide to start an Instagram account dedicated to shoes. In this example, Instagram is both the medium that hosts your words and broadcasts them out to the world.
Even if you have no idea what you’re doing, it takes nothing but a bit of guts to get started.
I can guarantee you that if you write consistently — say 500–1000 words a week — for a year, you will be able to publish something you’ve written to a website with a large audience. And that, my friend…that’ll get you some exposure.
Here’s the downside. Because there’s always a downside. Writing is a game best played long. There are no overnight success stories when it comes to writing. It’s a craft that takes time to hone.
Once you’ve built up a bit of a portfolio, reach out to a blog, a local news website, or a nearby marketing agency and ask to write for free.
Yes, free.
Get experience under your belt. Learn the ropes. Gain exposure.
(There’s that magic word again.)
I told you writing was a game best played long.
And if you’re hesitant…
If you can feel your stomach is in knots as you go to hit publish on a blog post, or that you’re so nervous that you’re shaking the first time you’re featured in a magazine or on a website, remember that you’re not alone.
It’s nerve-racking. Especially if the words you produced are sentimental in any way. And to make things worse, people will judge you and they’ll absolutely critique. I promise you that.
To become a good writer you’re going to have to face a million criticisms. From your editor to your uncle at Thanksgiving to that one person online who hates everything you publish, there’ll be skeptics and peanut galleries galore.
It’s cool.
It’s part of the process and it’s how you grow. Roll with it.
Being a writer in the 21st century requires you be a hustler. Hustlers fail. A lot. You’ll always be finding new places to get your work published, you’ll probably have a number of different careers, and things are, more often than not, in a state of flux.
If your own blog or email newsletter gains some traction online, you’ll then have to hustle to figure out how to monetise it. That requires you to learn some business savviness.
It never ends.
But it’s worth it. I promise you, if you love it, it’s worth it. Don’t let any cute, little, and very old Italian grandparent tell you otherwise…no matter how much she says it out of love.
