So over the past year when people have asked what my job is, I’ve been calling myself a writer. The beauty of that is that it makes me sound suave and interesting (or more accurately, i’d like to think it does). It’s especially helpful when I’m chatting with a cute girl. Whereas the truth that I’m an unemployed bum that lives with his parents just gets me a sympathetic smile, and the cold shoulder.
The problem is that calling myself a writer is kind of like calling myself Emperor of the World. Sure I have the desire, the ability, and even the means to do both these things (or at least I will once I complete my army of deadly robots), but until I actually do it it’s all just so many words.
Well no longer.
While my Emperor of the World ambitions will have to wait for the moment, I now have a job as writer. Sure it doesn’t pay anything, but the point is, I now have a job where I can point someone to something real and say “hey, I wrote that!” I’m now the official writer for the Ara’Kus Productions newsletter, and my first completed job went out yesterday!
So big deal, right? I got one, non-paying job. I’m still technically broke and living with my parents, what difference could this possibly make? It makes all the difference in the world my friends.
All the difference in the world.
You see I’ve been struggling to find a way to become a freelance writer since I first started writing this blog, but the trouble is I have had no formal experience or training, so finding a job was nearly impossible since there were always other more qualified people competing against me. Now I have something I can put into a portfolio of work, and something I can put on a resumé. I now have some experience writing with a deadline looming overhead. Most importantly, however, it now makes me feel like I actually have a chance to become a writer. As you might have been able to tell from my self-deprecating humor, I have absolutely no confidence in my own ability as a writer. No matter how many teachers, friends, relatives, or imaginary voices in my head tell me I’m a good writer, I never actually believed them. While I don’t want to be an arrogant tool espousing my writing like it’s the next coming, having a little confidence in my own ability would definitely not go amiss. And that’s what this job has allowed me to do.
Someone who doesn’t know me well enough to offer me charity, wants me to write for his company, and more over was actually pleased by the results! That’s huge for me. It means that I might actually have a chance at turning my hobby into an actual career, to be able to write for a living has been a dream of mine for a long time, and while that’s still a long way off this job has given me the confidence to pursue that dream. It has given me the hope of actually succeeding.
And sometimes hope is exactly what you need to pursue the impossible.
The Writer's Block 