Hi everyone, I hope you’re all well! Today, I’m talking about some common misconceptions that some people seem to have about being a writer and writing in general. So, without further ado, here are:

5 Misconceptions About Writing

1 Writing Makes You Rich
One of the most misunderstood ideas about writing is that if you write, you’ll get published and make a ton of money right away. Unfortunately, however, it’s not that simple. While some writers have made it big and made a kajillion dollars from their work in fairly short order, it’s far more common to be the struggling artist working hard for very little – sometimes even for free. We all want to be successful, but success is subjective. Many write just because they enjoy it or find it cathartic and simply see finishing a piece of work as a success. Others would love to make a living or a name for themselves from selling their writing. It can be a struggle to even get noticed, though, and sometimes, no matter how hard a writer tries or how hard they work, the truth is that it may never happen. Writing probably won’t make you rich. But who wants to be rich anyway…?

2 Writing Is Easy
This is the misconception that irks me most of all. Many people think writing is easy, but any writer worth their salt will tell you that you can’t just sit down with a pen and have the right words magically appear on the page. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Take poetry, for instance, I’ve heard people say they can write a poem an hour – and that’s great – for them – but not everyone can do that. For me, writing poetry is an involved process, and it can take weeks sometimes for a single poem to feel finished. It’s the same with stories; I can write a decent rough draft in a few days, but refining and editing it into something worth posting to my website or sending out to agents can take weeks or months (I’ve been working on one particular short story since October 2019).

3 Good Writing Can’t Be Learned
The idea that one cannot learn to write well is simply not true. As with most things, the more you do something, the better at it you become, and writing is no different. Very few can pick up a pen and immediately write a masterpiece. It takes patience and practice, and there are many resources out there to help you improve your writing skills. It can also be helpful to research how other writers do it. By reading their work, you can learn about style and grammar and even begin to learn how to develop your own voice.

4 Stories Need To Have A Message
While it’s true that a story can be a great way of teaching morals to children or showing different opinions about things like politics or religion in an engaging way, sometimes, stories can just be for fun. Not all stories require a theme, and not all stories need to be morality tales. Sometimes, it’s just fun to read an exciting yarn!

5 Poems Need To Rhyme
There are many different kinds of poetry and some poems rhyme, and others don’t. I’ve written both kinds in my time, but I prefer to write poems that rhyme because I find the challenge of constructing a sentence with the correct words, sounds, and meanings to be exciting. If you enjoy the art of crafting a rhyme, then do it, if you prefer to write haiku or to write in free verse, then do that. Poetry comes in lots of different shapes – most don’t rhyme at all.

If you found this interesting, then check out part 2 here.

As always, thank you for spending time with me today, it means a lot!

Until next time,

George

© 2021 GLT

Categories: Staying Motivated, Writing Tips

Tags: misconceptions, poems, Poetry, story, theme, tips, words, write, Writer, writing