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So You Want to Be a Writer ...
Featured Author:
Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter
Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter is CEO of her firm, Sherrie Bourg Carter, Psy.D., P.A., as well as partner and CEO of the Institute for Behavioral Sciences and the Law, a forensic psychology practice in Fort Lauderdale.
She currently is working on her newest book, The Dangers Lurking Above the Glass Ceiling: Anticipating, Recognizing, and Preventing Collapse Once You're on Top. The book focuses on high-achieving women and strategies they can use to effectively cope with the stressors in their hectic, overscheduled, and high-pressured lives. To learn more about Dr. Carter, visit her website High-AchievingWomen.com.
Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter | Excelle
I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately from women who identify with some of my articles at High-AchievingWomen.com and here on Excelle The emails take two forms: that either I’m living their dream of being a writer, or that their lifelong dream is to be a writer. It started me thinking … what is a writer? Actually, the answer is quite simple … until, of course, we complicate it, but let’s stay with simple for now.
Simply (and, in my opinion, correctly) defined, a writer is someone who writes. So for those of you who dream to be a writer because it’s your passion, it’s what you love to do, then it’s hard to imagine that you haven’t already accomplished your dream. If you love to write, then chances are you have written in some way, shape, or form all of your life, and therefore, by definition, you are a writer. But of course, that’s the simple definition, and as we humans are prone to do, we often complicate simple things.
Some of you ask, “How can I call myself a writer if I’ve never had anything published?” or “Every time I submit something to an agent or publisher, it always gets rejected.” And those are good points … as long as you understand that you changed what you’re defining. Here’s what I mean.
When you start talking about publishing and agents and getting paid for your writing, you’re no longer talking about writing. You’re talking about the business of writing. Those are two very different things, and therefore have two very different definitions. Would you define a dog and a wolf exactly the same way because they’re similar? I would hope not. They’re very different animals.
Well, the same holds true for being a writer and being in the business of writing. These are very, very different animals, and it’s important not to confuse the two simply because they look a lot alike. If you do, you’re taking a very big chance of being eaten by a wolf that you’ve mistaken for a dog.
As someone who has spent time with both of these animals for many years and am still alive to tell about it, here’s my advise to avoid being eaten by a wolf as you pursue your dream of becoming a “writer.”
SelmaSai
about 1 month ago
4 comments
When art mingles with money, then the love story may switch into a "cold" affair!
17bluepearls
about 1 month ago
4 comments
Thanks for letting me know about this - I loved this article! I love to write, and hopefully will one day be able to put together a book. Thanks for writing!
Marisvargas
about 1 month ago
12 comments
I loved this article. I love to write, I have almost 10 articles published in Mexico city, and I dream of writing a book. I haven´t thought of a topic to develop as I have in mind a few ideas, but I am certain that I will accomplish my dream. This article is inspiring and hopefully I´ll be telling you about my finished book soon! thanks.
QueenHoneynut
2 months ago
32 comments
Love it, and i see what you mean. I would love to be in the business of writing, but i love to express myself so i write for the hell of it. it's how i connect me, God, and commom folks like myself. i do however, take all the opportunities to do just that, for example the website called Experience Project, it allows users to write and express themselves.
alliha
2 months ago
6 comments
I loved this article. It inspires me to create and to keep looking for ways to make writing part of my work life as well.
lad093
2 months ago
14 comments
What a wonderful article--I have been writing since childhood and do consider myself a writer (unpublished lol) it for me will always be my craft not my work although I have submitted to various publishers at various times and been firmly rejected **sigh** The market as you so eloquently put it dictates a "Show me the money," ideology to coin a movie phrase just like any other buisness--although the dreamer in me will probably have me continuing to submit things from time to time I will watch out for those wolves. Thanks for the tips.
Smile0204
2 months ago
10 comments
This was a great article. Gave me some perspective! Thank you
jugi747
2 months ago
2 comments
I loved the article, as a writer I completely relate its a tough world out there.
MissLara
2 months ago
20 comments
Thank you, Sherrie, for letting me know about this article. Very well put. It reminded me a bit of Anne Lamott's book, Bird by Bird. In it she laments how many of her writing students said they longed to be writers but what they really wanted was to be published. Ah well... You know, I have a very dear friend who is a gifted writer. She has made it her ministry, of sorts, to use that gift to touch people's lives. She writes letters. Yes, just simple hand-written letters to friends, family, and people she meets along life's journey. She is immersing herself in her passion and bringing life and joy to so many, as well, as connecting with humanity in a profound way. Can you imagine if all of us 'writers' just wrote for the joy of it? sigh... what bliss!
beesknees0424
2 months ago
14 comments
WOW YES! That is it! In such a well rounded nut shell! I used to write only because i had such a hard time communicating verbal and still sometimes do, writing allowed me to express my thoughts to completion with out getting "tongue tied" :) Now for the last 15 years or so I write in journals, and i have wrote our family story now. My brother asked to read them one time, after my dad died last year, i said sure. But there are LOTS of them to go through. He read this and said, you should publish it..I said no. not yet. But I have been writing for years. But I could never write technical documents for work even though I have been asked to. I can't think of a single thing more boring that a computer tech. manual..ewww...But this is a great article to explain the differences in wanting to be a writer and writing itself.
br2das
2 months ago
2 comments
Never have put it into quite that perspective. I do find enjoyment in writing, but thinking of it in terms of a business would seem to take away the pleasure and the simplicity.
Oner
2 months ago
8 comments
Hi!
I feel it's a wonderful article, the subject is irrelevant, it is the way you have explained the difference makes the subject relevant.
Thanks for putting it in such simple text something some professionals fight to understand all their lives.
Account Removed
2 months ago
I find your article very concise and to the point. I also write and have started early in teenage years, though never on the professional level yet. Writing just for myself certainly works as a relief and is a mediative self-healing process. But sometimes I wish I could present my words to a wider public - but of course rejection isn't my favourite feeling, so I dare not try just yet... Maybe I will get the nerve one day ;-)
Bekah
2 months ago
148 comments
Wonderful article. I've been writing since I picked up my first crayon. Wrote my first play in third grade and my teacher let us perform it. Since then I have been involved in different writing aspects. I wrote and won awards in high school journalism (the school paper) and still keep journals even now. I would like to do some fictional writing but am having a hard time getting started these days.
Tiakat
3 months ago
2 comments
HMMM, I never knew there was so much on the business side. Thank you for giving me more insight into a future career.