How to be a writer

Way too often for my liking, I have seen the phrase ‘aspiring writer’ thrown about the Internet. People with bios that include the phrase frustrate me by the mere use of it. I have seen it too frequently and now end up crying out loud to the world:

 “What is wrong with people?”

First things first, the word ‘aspiring’ means that you want to be something, or that you have set something as your goal; you hope to be a specific type of person. I can bet you that the people who have ‘aspiring writer’, ‘aspiring artist’, ‘aspiring photographer', etc. in their social media bios or refer to themselves as such, already are what they ‘aspire’ to be. They probably write, paint - whatever they want to do – almost everyday.

These people need to realise this:

If you write, you’re a writer.

If you paint, you’re a painter.

If you take photographs, you’re a photographer.

If you run, you’re a runner.

Get where I’m going with this?

If you’re one of those people with ‘aspiring’ in their bios – or you refer to yourself as an ‘aspiring *insert occupation here*’ when people ask you what you do – then stop. If you already are what you said you aspire to be, then take away the ‘aspiring’ from your sentence. Instead place it in front of ‘published author’ or ‘professional runner’; that’s really what you aspire to be, if we’re quite honest here. Take the frustrating, two-word title in a bio, and turn it into a one-word title. I’m sure that the latter will represent you more than you think.

 And if you aren’t what you aspire to be… Be it. There’s nothing standing in your way.

Yours sincerely,

A writer.

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