Can ANYONE be a writer?

I am an expert in draft writing! I am trying to make an effort to release some content from the drafts box so forgive me that this is possibly published 3 months too late! As in it’s about New Year the content is still good though 😉

Whilst most “normal” (I use the term loosely) people partied, drank copious amounts of alcohol  reminisced on the events of 2012 I watched a film (drinking red wine, eating smarties with Daddy & Charlie Moo – who was able to “can’t sleep” for 5 hours!!) called “Julie & Julia” – I started watching it because t was about a blog.

… the film was charming and moving and an easy watch.  It made blogging look easy though like this lady blogged and had 100’s of comments daily, interviews, book deals etc etc …  When we all know this isn’t true in reality – well in my reality! I still do a little happy dance when I get a comment – don’t you??

In the morning (yes that is the 1st January a whole 3 months ago!) I noticed I’d written on my notepad “Can anyone be a writer?” obviously this film had got my creative juices flowing or it could have been the wine.  I did some research.  It turns out that the blog wasn’t really that interesting – it was more about Julie than the cooking.  The reviews of the book on Amazon weren’t great BUT give her her dues Julie has now carved herself a successful career from writing with a second book under her belt.

pondering JoanneCan anyone be a writer?
The opportunities to have your work read are certainly more prolific than say 10-20 years ago.  With e-books and self publishing being accessible to us mere mortals.   I meet many people who worry about Blogging and the grammar and spelling side of things and then I meet people who don’t care and just write because they enjoy it. Which is how it should be.

I never set out ever to be a “writer“. I started blogging as a way of sharing my skills and knowledge with other small businesses – mainly as many of them were like me and working from home around a young family and it can be hard to get out to network.
I only wrote my book because:-

  1. I could see from my blog – readers had an interest in these areas
  2. I secured a publishing deal based on blog content – I wouldn’t have actively gone about self publishing.
  3. I’d just given birth to my 3rd child what else would I do with the long nights of feeding – 1 finger typing is surprisingly easy!
  4. I like a challenge!

If I’ve learnt anything since July 2012 it’s er … writing a book is the easy part! Selling and marketing it are a lot harder!

Do you think anyone can be a writer? Are you a dabbler? Do you stress about punctuation and grammar or do you just let the content flow? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

 

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12 Comments

  1. March 14, 2013 / 9:05 pm

    Hmmmm. Well, I think the blogosphere has enabled people who weren’t writers to express themselves and the good ones attract readers and publishers and become professional (just as you deservedly have done). As a professional writer since 1995 when my first feature was published, I have found that the rise of blogging and epublishing has led to a proliferation of self-published ‘authors’ who are sadly quite terrible at writing and are doing it for the wrong reasons. Good writing is about creating information and inspiring others in an articulate fashion. So, while anyone can post a blog and write, not everyone can be a great writer. (That’s my tuppence worth).

    Also… I think it’s brilliant that blogging has given good credible writers, such as your good self, a platform. I LOVE writing and love that anyone has the opportunity to put their words onto a page or screen for anyone else to read. I love that writing has become accessible. Yet, on the flipside, it does mean that there are lots of badly written ebooks and information to sift through which can devalue the good stuff. I think, on the whole though, the increased opportunity for writers is worthwhile, because it means there are more routes for creative expression and that can only be a good thing.

    • March 15, 2013 / 11:02 am

      I guess though Cheryl you are what we’d term a “traditional writer” writing credibly in print, whereas I am a product of blogging (although I hope a good one ) I blogged to share my hints/experience to a wider audience and a book came from that. I do struggle when I am approached to write “specific topics” whereas I would assume that you have that “traditional” skill set to be more adapt to write about a wide range …

  2. March 15, 2013 / 10:55 am

    I blog because it gives release to the stuff that goes on in my head. I took a year off from blogging last year after posting every day in January. It had become a chore and was causing me stress – the opposite of the reason I started blogging! I knew it was time to come back when what I wanted to say frequently wouldn’t fit in a Facebook status 🙂

    I keep getting internal nagging about writing a book. Not sure what it would be about though, so that’s possibly not the best start!
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  3. Amanda Charteris
    March 15, 2013 / 11:27 am

    My eldest daughter is a published author and writing is her whole life. Her devotion to her craft is to be admired and she received many rejections from publishers before her book was finally accepted, as do lots of now famous authors. However, just because she writes ‘Chick Lit’ she was heavily criticised by some others in her writing groups. They were very cross that she had got a publishing deal for writing what they thought was ‘drivel’ in comparison to their deep and meaningful prose. Yes it was sour grapes and although their comments hurt,she rose above it all and is now planning her second novel. I personally think anyone can write but not everyone can engage. Amanda x

    • March 15, 2013 / 11:31 am

      Excellent point! “anyone can write but not everyone can engage” so true!

  4. Jane Woodyer
    March 15, 2013 / 11:41 am

    I fell into writing too. I was good at it at school, but decided to go into photography instead. Having struggled to keep that going when I started a family, a chance conversation led me to ghost blogging for clients. A year and a bit on I really haven’t looked back, even won an award! And this is with no formal training, just a love of the written word. Jane

  5. Elaine Croft
    March 15, 2013 / 11:43 am

    I would love to be a writer! I love the idea of being a “proper” blogger with thousands of readers, book deals etc but yes I agree in reality is doesnt happen easy. I blog as a way of therapy with my mental health and anxiety. It does help me for that. I do plan on writing a book but its going to be more of a text book how too, with mostly screen shots then actual writing.

  6. Ces Loftus
    March 15, 2013 / 1:11 pm

    Hello Joanne 🙂 …interesting topic… yes I think most people have the capacity to be a writer if they want to… I enjoy blogging and because I have both a personal blog and a biz blog separate, I can use different writing styles for each. I would encourage anyone who wants to have a go to join in blogging for sure.

    So far as writing ebooks and or printed books go, that is a different matter… because of the ease to self publish it means some books out there I personally class as poor quality based on the amount of mistakes and sub-standard content flooding the market (both biz and fiction genres – seems some authors don’t do much in the way of professional editing) but then again others self published are brilliant and I would highly recommend them! I imagine the ones that are somewhat lacking will fail to impress their audience and will end up with bad reviews because of it… I would encourage anyone who has an idea for a book and wants to self publish to take their time and make sure it is the best that it can be rather than rushing it out in a few weeks, that is all.
    I love writing and in fact you don’t even have to be good at writing to publish a brilliant book, you just have to work with a good proof reader/editor! 🙂 x

  7. March 15, 2013 / 5:03 pm

    Everyone is a little bit different so everyone is going to like something that is a little bit different. It would be rather harsh to brand someone as unable to write so wouldn’t dream of it. The businesses I enjoy working with or buying from the most tend to be run by the people I feel I know best and what better way than to read their blog. 🙂
    p.s You should put your comment dances on Youtube, you could be the new Harlem Shake. 😉

  8. March 17, 2013 / 8:50 pm

    This is very interesting, I am forever writing notes for possible blog posts but never finish them off and get them on the website. Also I worry people might not be interested in topics that come to mind.

    • March 17, 2013 / 9:23 pm

      Jessamine – you just have to go for it lovely. Sometimes its not just about the writing its the marketing – yo have a big following on social media so you will get readers 🙂