Live the Writer Life
Did you ever try the exercise where you wrote your own obituary? The idea is to write not just about the kind of person you are, but about the kind of person you want to be remembered as (and yes, obviously, those are not mutually exclusive—but they can be!)
Have you tried that same exercise as a writer? How do you want you want to be remembered? As a dedicated careerist? A devoted hobbyist? A one-book wonder? A private journaler? There are no wrong answers, but there is reflection. If you find that what you wish your writing obituary could say is not yet what it would say, then can you think of ways to change that? You may be able to—start to write more, or devote more resources to independent publishing, or share your work with more people—or you may not. It’s not about setting a goal (you’ll never know whether you’ve achieved it since, well, you’ll be dead…😂); it’s about living the life you have. If you can’t write as much as you want or you can’t get your book published or you can’t sell it or you can’t finish it, that’s okay. It’s all still part and parcel of being a writer.
So if you’d like to see the word “writer” or “author” or “scribe” or “the Second-Coming of Shakespeare” in your obituary, then all you have to do is live the writer life.
And that’s easy. Because if you write, you are a writer.