Member-only story
The Days You Don’t Want To Write, Are The Days You Need To The Most
This is an excerpt from my morning newsletter, Daily Writing Habits.
I tell this story all the time, because it encapsulates the lesson I’d like to share with you.
When I graduated from college (with a degree in fiction writing — and no, my father was not proud), I had no idea how I was going to “become a writer.”
At the time, I sort of thought being a writer was about having a really big bookshelf, a window you stared out of constantly, and a manuscript you were always “slaving over” but never quite felt done. I thought of being a writer more like a persona and less like a career path.
I digress.
After about 6 months into the working world, I realized commuting two hours to work every day by train sucked, as did working 10 hours per day writing advertising copy for brioche buns (some days were fun actually, just wasn’t what I wanted to do long term). I also realized that after a 10–12 hour work day, I really didn’t have much motivation to write. If I wanted to become a professional writer, it was going to take more than just hard work and focus.
