A Day In The Life Of A Writer
We all know the saying, “A writer’s work is never done,” — K. Sean Harris. Well, I hate to say it, but it’s true. As writers, we all work hard to bring our readers the best articles possible. We work for hours at a time and we hardly ever give ourselves breaks.
I sometimes wonder what our readers and supporters think when they read our articles. I wonder if they think, “Wow, these people are good at what they do.” Or, “Wow, I wonder how long it takes these writers to produce these articles.” Well, we can’t read our readers and supporters minds. Sometimes when we submit an article for publishing, we wing it and hope everyone enjoys what we wrote.
For me, depending on what I’m writing about and what platform I’m writing an article for, I take at least three hours or fewer to produce and finish a piece. I work on writing so much, sometimes for weeks at a time, and I forget to give myself a self-care day or time off. The good news though, I enjoy writing. I mentioned in one of my previous articles for Coffee House Writers titled, “10 Things to Do When You Are Bored.” That writing was one of the ten things I like to do because it’s like therapy for me. I think many people have different coping ways when they can’t express their feelings. I can’t express my feelings verbally to people when they ask me what’s wrong. If they sense something’s wrong with me, it always starts and ends in tears for me most of the time. It’s very frustrating, so I use writing instead to put my feelings on paper, it’s helped a lot.
As a writer, I try not to overwork myself. I’m a very stubborn person and don’t give myself breaks until I’m drained and exhausted. I also try to get all the writing I need to get done during the week. It makes it less stressful for someone like me who has anxiety. I plan out my week, “Ok, I will write this article for this platform on Monday and type it up on Tuesday since I’m off on Tuesdays. As far as Coffee House Writers goes, some weeks if I feel too overworked, I’ll force myself to say, “Ok, I need to rest today. I know I want to get my article for the week done right now, but I don’t want to force anything out of me. So, I’ll figure out what I want to write about now and type it up the next day.” I had to do this strategy yesterday, and it worked. It’s always best to write with a clear head and when you’re not stressed and exhausted.
Besides Coffee House Writers, I write for four other platforms: Project Wednesday, The Mighty, Medium, Unwritten, and Herstory Blog. Keeping up with these different platforms can be a lot of work. It makes it much easier when you work with many talented and amazing writers who motivate, support, encourage, and push you to be the best writer you can be.
When I first became a published writer last year, it was a surreal feeling, and I couldn’t believe it. The Mighty was the place that made me a published writer, and I’ve met some cool and amazing writers through writing. I honestly would not trade my writing journey so far for the world. In fact, if I had the chance to do it all over again, I would.
People say I’m very enthusiastic about writing. My response to this is, “If you’re not passionate about writing it means you don’t care.” You have to have a skill, passion, and love for writing to be good and go far. If you don’t have these things, it means you’re doing it for nothing.
As I celebrate my one-year writing anniversary on June 22, I will say I’m very proud of how far I’d come in such a short period. At first, I didn’t think I could do it, but I made it a year (almost), and I’m proud of everything I’ve written. Since I’ve joined Coffee House Writers in January, I’m growing as a writer, branching out with articles, writing things I’ve never written before. I’m coming out of my comfort zone of what topics I usually write.
The lesson for this week: Be proud of everything you’ve done whether it’s a small or little thing, celebrate it! You can do anything you put your mind to if you work for it- your hard work will pay off in the long run. I promise. Keep going. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Go out there and fight for your dreams and what you want most in your life.
