Bursting The Myths: Musings of A Frenzied Blogger

This topic I believe is long overdue. My blogging journey began on the 1st of March, 2013 nonetheless I have chosen not to be addressed as a blogger (hilarious right?). I would rather be called a writer, I don’t know if I pass for one yet.

Life as a writer has been cool so far but for a few myths.  I have decided to burst some myths about bloggers writers;

#1 We are not crazy people who stay away from the world

I often have to remind my family of this fact. Yes, maybe I like to be left alone sometimes – the thoughts flow better that way especially when you have to plan for an article/write an article – if not two at the same time. However, we are not all introverts. We sometimes have friends and like to go out and have a nice time. Okay, I like to stay at home and have fun but trust us we just need you to be understanding and listen to us talk about our next big title or book and also take us out once in a while and know we are not crazy even when we close both windows and our doors! Please when we ask that you don’t touch anything in our room, we mean it! That dirty looking paper may just be our next big story.

#2 We are not all Gossips

Guys, just stop this one. I can remember speaking with a friend (*you know yourself) and he said: “please don’t write this in your blog”. Plzzzz! As opposed to popular opinion, we can separate our private conversations from our writing or can we? Well I will speak for myself and I believe there are similar individuals elsewhere; if I believe anything you say is worth writing about, I may decide to write about it (*90 percent of the time I try not to) but believe me I understand enough to live you anonymous or ask for your permission to use what you say especially when it is confidential.

#3 We sometimes have other dreams/interests

Most people are not convinced that we may have other interests besides writing. Yes, we love to write and this may take the better part of our time/life but we may also have other things that interest us, so please do not limit us. I have been impressed lately by writers who have succeeded in balancing their different careers with writing. Blogs like A Little Bit of Lacquer, Cassandra Ikegbune…Not all writers take writing as a career. For some, it is just a means of expressing themselves, a way of letting out steam. Just be sure that we have a life – we have a life!

#4 We don’t write too much

The fact that you see us writing every time doesn’t mean that we write too much and even if we do aren’t we writers and what are writers supposed to do? Write! It is never too much, take it from a writer. The more we write the better we become. Don’t always nag about us taking a break from writing except we totally need it and often times we don’t. (**I am not angry 🙂 )

via GIPHY

#5 Writing doesn’t always come easy

The more you write, the easier it becomes but writing is a lot of work. Writing also takes a lot of discipline – there will be times when you won’t feel like writing but you would have to. Writing involves practice, consistency, and discipline like any other career. The love for writing is what makes writing seem easy.

#6 We don’t always make the worst friends

You need a writer in your life. They can spice up things and they are very interesting personalities. No doubt they can sometimes be very complicated people but who doesn’t like a little bit of surprise. They are often times adventurous. If you don’t have a writer among your list of friends then you are missing out.

***

I look forward to more years of writing. I get happy when I see previous write-ups from a month or a week ago and I say “yuck”, it shows I am improving and this is the goal of any/every writer. Susan Henderson in Writers Digest wrote this;

But the truth, and you know it down deep, is that it’s not the published book that makes you a writer. You’re a writer because of the things you notice in the world, and the joy you feel stringing the right words together so they sound like music. You’re a writer because you can imagine something in such detail that it comes to life. You’re a writer because you’re obsessed with making your ideas clearer, tighter, fiercer. You’re a writer because you have every reason to stop (it takes too much time, pays too little, and the rejection hurts too terribly), but you can’t do it. It’s not that you love to write so much as you need to write.

You’re a writer because you’re weird in the ways you want to continue being weird. And because even as you’re pretending to listen to the conversation that’s now found its way back to lawn fertilizer and Little League, you’re digging in your purse for a pen (okay, a lipstick will do) so you can jot down the way your neighbor’s mouth sags on one side. And as you try to find just the right words, you realize it’s this quality—this human frailty—that finally allows you to connect.

Okay, do not pretend to listen to conversations or go about writing about your neighbours sagging mouth. Looking at who Susan Henderson defines a writer to be, I believe that you are a writer when you choose to be one. There is no special ordination service where you are crowned as a writer and if there is any make sure to send me an invite.

There will always be a battle as to whether to call yourself a writer but remember you are a writer because you choose to be.

Have you heard of other myths concerning writers? Care to share?