The Reality of Being a Professional Writer

Video Transcript

"REBECCA SATO: Hi. I'm Rebecca with ExpertVillage.com. And we were just talking about writing and self-image and how the two interrelate. And here we mentioned this is what others view you as and this is how you view yourself and this is reality. And reality, as I mentioned previously, is subjective. The real "you" isn't necessarily determined by what they think or what you think. It's kind of what you decide. And I think for writers, that's really important because I personally know of a lot of writers who initially, including myself, were kinda scared to define themselves as a writer. When I started my writing career, I was almost embarrassed to tell people I was a writer because when I very first started, of course, I hadn't published anything. Everyone starts somewhere and now I've published a lot. But at the time, I hadn't published anything. And so, my reality was others saying, "Rebecca isn't a writer. She's, you know, this and that" and whatever they perceive me as. And over here was me, or put yourself in this place, not necessarily me, but the person who's considering writing as a career and they're thinking, "Can I do this?" You know, there's confusion, there is doubt, there is worry like, "Am I going to be able to pay the bills?" And the trick is to not let this or this get in the way of what you decide. And this might sound really new age and out there but it's true. It really is true. The moment that you decide that you're a writer, a good writer and that you're going to be successful, half the work is already done. It's really just determining that. So my main message here really is just don't let anybody tell you who you are. Don't let anybody tell you what you're capable of. You can do whatever you want with your life and you only get one life. We all really get one life. So just make sure that you don't waste your life worrying about what other people think. And that's the main message I want out there for writers who are starting out a new career and aren't sure if they're going to be successful or not. Don't worry about that. If you want to be a writer, then just decide that you're a writer and there you go."