I Wanted to Play Soccer, He said. Instead, He Became a Writer.

I Wanted to Play Soccer, He said. Instead, He Became a Writer.

In a recent novel I was reading, a conversation between the two main characters stuck in my mind. The antagonist was a horror writer. À la Stephen King, I suspect. The protagonist was a woman determined to write a story for her gossip magazine, about the horror writer – a man who was a recluse.

Here is how the conversation went…with a little paraphrasing:

“Why do you write?” she asked. “What I mean is, when did you realize you wanted to be a writer?”

“I wanted to play soccer,” he said.

“But you’re a successful writer. Not a soccer player.”

“I wanted to play soccer; I chose to write because…I am a writer.”

“How did you know?” she pressed.

“I just knew,” he answered.

If you’re a writer of that caliber, you understand. The answer to ‘why do you write’ is, “Because it’s who I am.”

I wrote my first short story in 2nd grade.

From a young age, I knew I was a writer. There I sat at my desk, day after day, drawing pictures, making up stories. About my life. About wanting a dog. Until one day, my teacher brought my mother to the room and said, “She has to do something more than write stories.” I could hear the frustration in her voice. I didn’t agree with her, but I did realize I needed to find time for other classroom studies or I might remain in 2nd grade forever!

I continued to write. Penning a ghost story novel in 7th grade. In high school, my short stories were sought out by many of my friends. “Do you have another yet?” they would ask, day after day. It validated me. I felt appreciated for my talent.

Sadly, I did not pursue my writing as I might have. I allowed circumstance to hold me back, fill me with doubt, and direct me to a path that was okay but not really me.

I know others who have felt that way. I’ve talked to them. They want to write. To become “the author of” as I like to say, but they’re held back by their own self-doubt. Or a desire to have their work be perfect. Which Tom Collins and Michele Molitor have something to say about. Their upcoming book, I Am Perfectly Flawsome: How Embracing Imperfection Makes Us Better is a deep dive into the science and emotional affects of trying to always be perfect. (sign up here to be notified when it’s launched)

My advice, stop. Just stop. Be yourself. You have a better chance of becoming a bestseller when you write from the heart.

I craved the comfort of my writing.

In time, after having three children, the call to write returned so strongly I could not ignore it. I sat down and wrote when the children went to school. I studied writing in my spare time. I created stories and started novels, and I poured myself onto the page like heavy syrup onto waffles – seeping into the crevices, surrounding melted butter, flowing off the edges.

And I began to see results. I got comments from editors! I was making my mark!

But still, people said, “You are a mother. You have children to care for. Put aside this foolishness and care for your children.” And so, even though I went back to school and graduated with honors in writing, I did what I was told to do. I looked at my life as a mother whose children needed her. This led to divorcing my then-husband (oh what a story that could be!), getting a job, and taking care of my children as a good mother should.

For many years I ignored life pushing to get me to write. There I was, a 9-5 worker, languishing in a world I could find no joy in, other than the joy of my children. But one does not live just for her children. I craved the comfort of my pencil or my keyboard, but I did little about it. Life kept nudging.

All that time, I ached for the delight of the written word on paper, created from the depths of my imagination. Soothed only by reading and then reading some more. But reading only made me cry. “I could write this!” I would whisper in the quiet of my empty room at night. Anger made me bitter.

Finally, I woke up.

I opened the drapes. The day could have been dreary or sunny, cold or warm, full of energy, or dull and unpolished. I don’t know. I only know I came to life and said, “I write because I am.” And I sat down and began writing.

Am I now a famous author with numerous published works? No. I may still be one, that door is still open. But for now, I write with others. I help others polish their words and create stories that change lives.

Many of you are on paths unexpected, also. And I know you want to write about how you got on that path, what it means, who you can help by sharing your story. Every other person who is at that fork in a road needs your advice. Which way to go? The rocky path or the smooth path? The lighted path or the shadowy path?

As they stand there at that junction, fear keeps them from taking that first step. Do you have the solution to that fear? By not sharing it, by holding back year after year–you’re keep all those people keep hovering in place. Why not help them now, this year?

There is great joy in my work. I didn’t want to merely ‘edit’ books. I wanted to help writers tell stories and create an engaging book that people would want to read. My training in creative writing serves me well in my work. But I think, perhaps, it was all the reading I did that truly set me on the developmental writing path as a career. Stephen King did say,

You have to read widely, constantly refining (and redefining) your own work as you do so. It’s hard for me to believe that people who read very little (or not at all in some cases) should presume to write and expect people to like what they have written…

I have the privilege of working with writers who want to make a difference in this chaotic world we live in. I am able to them remove the stumbling blocks in their way and tell the stories they are meant to tell! And we have several bestselling authors in our list.

I have come full circle, perhaps. The path I was on, am still on, as broken as it was sometimes, led me here, where I feel honored to work with such talented writers.

Yes, my writer self continues to push me to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), and I do so. But the years have brought me a deeper sense of accomplishment – I have learned that sometimes the ‘other’ path, the fork in the road someone shoved you onto, (yes, looking back, I felt a shove, though I can’t decide who it was – my inner child or my 5th grade teacher who was the first person to believe in me), might be the path you should have been on all the time.

Writers are a community.

We are a community here, at Master Book Builders. We are writers, authors, and dreamers. We read silently or aloud, and we sing songs to music no one else can hear. We press eagerly on, day after day, and we share our stories, begotten from lost dreams, as ethereal as fog or a morning mist. As powerful as a thunderstorm.

We don’t all know each other – but we’re connected by that innate purpose writing gives us – to put the words of our story on paper to strengthen that bond we have to all other human beings – that connection of energy and light. We do it through emotion and imagery. We do it because connecting, heart to heart is what human beings were designed to do.

I do suggest participating on other communities, also. Online and offline. Jane Friedman describes the power of an author community in her post, “Your #1 Secret Weapon: Writing Communities” where she says,

Tap into your nearest city’s creative community. There’s always some event going on locally—in the last few years I’ve seen Patti Smith read from The M Train (and sing), heard Ghanaian drummers play ecstatically, watched improv comedy, and on and on. It’s inspiring. 

https://janefriedman.com/writing-communities/

To have this opportunity at my fingertips is more than I could ever have dreamed.

I write because I am. I am because I write. The one follows the other, and the bond between them can never be severed. It exists within – as dreams and hopes and desires exist – captured in our hearts, shared sparingly, offered with reserve.

Maybe you’re not hoping to be the next great American novelist or famous motivational speaker (maybe you are! Go for it!); the point is to listen when life knocks on the door and says, “You should go this way.”

Are you ready? Are you ready to listen to the voice in your subconscious saying, Go this way! Writer your book? Unleash the you that has been lurking behind your fears.

Uncover the dreams, hopes, and desires you really have…about writing a book this year (2024) – with us at Master Book Builders. Subscribe for newsletter updates and connect on LinkedIn.