There are two types of people in the world – the ones who read and the others who write. Now, this article is for the latter category, who might be going through bouts of self-doubt and confusion about whether they are or whether they could be writers – or – whether they are readers who like to read.
Without further ado, let us read about some potent tell-tale signs that you are a writer and can make your dream come true – even becoming a best-selling author one day.
Keep reading!
Writing is Your Ultimate Passion
You share a passion for storytelling. Trust us – readers are usually good at telling if the author has been passionate about their subject or not. So, if you share a passion for writing – there is a great chance that you have the bigger picture in mind regarding your career as an author.
You might as well be familiar with the two routes of publishing books – the traditional route of publishing and the route of self-publication. Traditional publication is a bit discouraging for aspiring authors who want their target readers to have their books as soon as possible.
With traditional publication, it could take you two years to get published and get your book out there.
When it comes to self-publishing and the potential benefits for self published authors, you can get the book out for a very little cost.
Also, you will be able to get the book legally registered as well. The key behind self-publishing your book is getting into the right marketplace and going into the right people for you – for whom your book is targeted.
Another potential benefit of self-publishing is that you can get your book as soon as possible out there – compared to the traditional publishing route, which can take a few years to get the book on the market.
Nonetheless, if writing is your passion and you see yourself as a future author – publishing one book after the other, then it is a tell-tale sign that you are a writer.
Writing Makes You Happy
Another tell-tale sign that you are born to be a writer is how your mind reacts to sitting down and filling the blank pages with words, sentences, and paragraphs. The moment your ideas start oozing onto the page, your mind becomes quieter and more focused.
Even the simple activity of sketching notes on the back of some napkin makes you feel like you have solved a big problem in your life – even if it hasn’t. As a natural writer, you will have the feeling that a heavy burden is being lifted off your shoulders as you jot down one line after the other.
It could feel like this – a random thought/feeling gets induced in your mind, which you find hard to let go of until you have jotted it down onto paper. Once you have expressed the thought/ feeling/ idea and it is out there in front of you, you feel a sense of relief as you are free of it.
As a writer, you are obviously not free of the thought or main idea until you take it and work yourself from the inside out – crafting an entire story – but you will feel the burden falling off your shoulders as you have managed to set the thought down onto the paper.
The very thought of a pen in your hand –or – your hands on the keyboard induce a sense of pace, and you crave that peace – even to the extent of going the greater lengths of writing your first manuscript and publishing your first book for your ideal readers.
You Write to Organize Your Thoughts
You know that your mind is loud – very loud! A lot of things are going on in your mind all the time to the extent that you write to integrate a system for channeling your inner thoughts. If you don’t jot them (thoughts) down, the thoughts lack flow, causing information to pile up.
So, writing is your organizational and management system. You might have multiple files on your personal laptop where you keep your thoughts organized after writing them down. Or, you might be into vintage things and like to keep a journal. You could rely on apps to collect notes whenever you are on the go.
You get the point – as a writer, you have a certain way of ensuring that all the information is instantly available. You write those ideas and thoughts down in the form of stories where you simply reframe and interestingly organize your thoughts.
If you are an aspiring author who has crafted their first draft, you might already know that the first draft can be a massive disaster, which perfectly explains why first drafts get rejected by publishing agents. It also brings home the importance of hiring professional editors and proofreaders before publishing the book.
Nonetheless, as long as you don’t give up working on your dream of becoming a renowned author, you will soon understand the importance of discipline and strategically organizing your ideas/ thoughts.
You could use a mind map to do the needful –especially – when you are outlining the story and jotting down the details of the themes/ characters/and other aspects of the story.
You Actually Write
Now, the last thing that you will want to keep in mind, which will also help you eliminate all other self-doubts about the aspect of whether you are a writer or not, is that you actually write. You don’t only think about that one day when you will be publishing a book.
But – you take the pain and do the hardest thing about writing, which is writing itself. If you might be procrastinating about writing, then you should know that it is normal, as many people do this.
But what makes you stand out from the crowd is the fact that by the end of the day, you actually sit down and dedicate your time and effort to writing. This way, you not only think about writing – but you do the work and write – something that a writer is meant to do.
