Our Number One Job As A Writer.

Becoming A Writer

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Our Number One Job As A Writer.

Episode 2 of Becoming A Writer podcast.

Rubina G Gomes

Mar 06, 2024

Transcript

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Hello, my writer friends! Rubina here. For our second conversation, we are going to talk about what is our number one job as a writer.

Before I started writing, I took a chance at creating YouTube content. As I was learning how to build an online business as a writer, I concluded that people preferred watching videos over reading books. Thanks to all the content consumption apps being either video-focused or video-preferred, I understood that all video watchers may not be reading books, but all readers are definitely watching videos. So, it made sense to me at that time to try my hand at creating videos for YouTube.

It took me less than a year to realise my self-help-personal development videos were not working. Not because they weren’t getting attention from the viewers; a year is too short to analyse that. My YouTube channel wasn’t working because of a deeper and personal reason - I wasn’t at peace.

With each video, I was providing lessons and insights I learnt from life, experience and books that I thought would be useful to others as well. So, the matter of my videos weren’t the problem. The problem was I hated the process of making a video.

Like every content creator, I, too started as a one-man army. I did all the writing, editing, setting up, directing, getting the camera ready, getting myself camera ready, recording myself, handling the back-end, video editing, posting and marketing. I just got exhausted reading that list out. And I hated doing 95% of them. Within a couple of months, I understood that though video has the potential to spread my message, going at it alone wasn’t sustainable for me and my health – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.

During this same time, COVID kicked its way through our global doors, and it became too much to handle simultaneously. So, I reluctantly decided to stop creating videos.

No matter how much I told myself that this was a learning experience and I could always come back to YouTube when I have the resources to create the videos I envisioned, I felt like a failure. I was in the fourth year of my gap year post-graduation, and I still hadn’t figured out what I wanted to do and how to do it.

Wait a second, I heard myself say. I know the what. Writing!

That was why I took the gap year – to become a writer. But while learning about writing, I was dwarfed by everything I didn’t know about writing. I didn’t know how to plot and outline. I couldn’t sit in one place long enough to write a page. And with all the tips and tricks I found online and in books, it all felt too overwhelming. Therefore, I was too scared to give writing a shot.

But now, with YouTube also not working, I knew it was time to face my fears.

A year later, I started my Medium and Substack pages. Within three months, I knew I found my place and my home. Now, I was at peace.

So, what was it that made my online writing work but not my online videos? Well, there are quite a few reasons, but the main and most important one was my dream of becoming a writer.

Back in May 2014, when I was struck with the writing dream, the voice in me said, “It would be so amazing if I could make others feel the way Agatha Christie makes me feel. Yes, I will become a writer.”

My dream was to become a writer, not a YouTuber. YouTube could be a part of my writing business but not the main project.

I am a writer first. I need to embrace that above all.

As a writer, my job is to write. That’s it. My connection with my writing is like breathing; I cannot not do it. So when I am not writing what wants to be written, I am not breathing. And if I not breathing I am not living.

Yes, there are jobs like editing, publishing, marketing my writing, and having a social media presence that I need to take care of. But these are parts of being an author, not a writer. A writer’s job, again, is simply to just write. All those bells and whistles are useless if I am not writing in the first place.

The first change I made in my approach was to give my writing job the respect and attention my friends give to their traditional jobs.

Many think that creativity happens when inspiration strikes. That is not the case. Creative light bulbs do occur, but they only happen when we are primed and ready to receive them.

90% of the time, we writers must keep writing, and then, seeing our diligent efforts, the creative gods whisper ideas or connect the dots for us.

This is why treating your writing job like a regular job is necessary.

Having a regular work schedule with the time specified to clock in and out of work and having an active project to work on has kept my writing gears oiled and functioning. Therefore, the more I write, the more ideas I get. The more I work on my writing business, the more I get ideas to help it grow.

Doing this I understood that Writing is a noble profession, one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The pen is definitely mightier than the sword.

Next, I found my process.

While I needed to treat my writing job as seriously as a regular job, their way of coming to fruition differs. Even the way one writer goes about their writing is different from others.

This is why I needed to find my writing process.

To do this, I experimented. I woke up at 3:30am to write, and then I also tried staying up late. I tried writing every day, then once or twice a week. I tried writing all day. I also tried writing for 4 hours, 2 hours, and 30 minutes per day. I tried writing 2000 words per session and 500 words per session. I tried writing with an outline, and I also tried letting my writing lead the way. I tried posting my essays online every day, then twice a week and now once weekly.

After almost two years of experimenting, I found the right ingredients to make my writing session a breeze.

Understanding how you function as a writer is so underrated. Once we figure this part of us out, writing becomes so productive and satisfying.

What I realised next was Writing is an art. We all know that but we don’t understand it well enough. Writing is an art. Therefore, it’s a craft we must keep working on for years, guiding us to mastery.

Writing is an art that can be mastered; to do that, we need to spend hours and hours for years and years to fully embody it. While the regular jobs make us go round and round in the same spot and work like machines, Writing spirals up in proficiency as we get a deeper understanding of the craft and of being a human.

While in regular jobs, you get a promotion, in Writing, you get evolution – of mind, body and soul.

Being a writer requires guts. It requires you to stand strong and hold your ground. It requires us to write, no matter what. And when we do that, our writing also comes up and supports us.

Well, that's it for today. Next time we meet, we'll talk about getting started with our writing.

Until then, keep writing, my friend.