Ashly Perez: “You Don’t Need Permission to be a Writer”

Take that pressure off. Then, whatever happens, happens.

Wake Up and Write is an advice column from Moms Don’t Have Time to Write. Today, we have Ashly Perez—television writer, actress, and author of Read This for Inspiration— who shared writing advice on the podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, hosted by Zibby Owens.

“You don’t need permission to be a writer.”

“Oftentimes for me, I was always looking for, ‘What is going to make me a real writer? What job am I going to get? Who’s going to see it? Do I have to have a published book in order to feel real and authentic?’ It’s actually so much more about, I feel like a real writer when I’m writing stuff that I like and no one can see it.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who’s this amazing writer — she did Fleabag and Killing Eve. She’s a television writer. She always says that she writes for her one best friend. She just wants to make her one best friend laugh, and that’s it. She ended up making everybody laugh and is this incredible writer. I think the pressure of thinking of an audience and people who are going to deem your work important can actually be the killer of creativity.

Either write for your best friend or write for yourself. Take that pressure off. Then, whatever happens, happens. If it goes out into the world and people like it, great. If it doesn’t, I often think that the time of anonymity is the best time to be a writer because you can fail in the dark by yourself with no one watching.

Enjoy the time before the time when people are looking.”

Listen to the episode:

https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/ashlyperez

Buy the book:

https://bookshop.org/books/read-this-for-inspiration-simple-sparks-to-ignite-your-life/9780593135334