A few days ago I read a blog post, Are You a Writing Fangirl…Or a REAL Writer? 7 Ways to Know.
It made me wonder, not only about being a REAL writer, but about being REAL. How often are we simply playing pretend? Not only as aspiring writers, but in life.
Look at social media. How many blogs or facebook pages or Pinterest boards do we have/follow on a given subject? Half a dozen on health and fitness, that many on motivation and spirituality or religion, writing groups and as many authors as I can without looking like a stalker.
Pin after pin for character motivation, book ideas, writing tips. Meme upon meme shared about the power of positivity and spiritual well being, prayer requests or shared Bible verses, yoga pants, running shoes and fitness monitors. Have you noticed how they makes them to look like jewelry!
OK, now that we have all the tools….Then what?
Sit down and write the story of the woman with pencil skirts and fabulous shoes. (Kenna’s Closet). Wake up fifteen minutes early to actually pray or meditate and get in touch with our faith and spirituality. Buy the ingredients and cook the healthy recipe instead of just grabbing burgers on the way home. Make fitness a daily commitment to ourselves instead of an occasional event or excuse to buy stretchy pants and electric pink shoes and wear our fitbit without the thrill of that 10K buzz on the wrist. (It really does that! I promise.)
As I sit here in my yoga pants, sipping coffee, blogging as “real writers” do…wearing a stylish Cheveron stripe fitbit, I think for me, it’s a decision that must be made every day…be real or just pretend.
It is so easy to get caught up in the trappings, the pretending, the costuming of a passion without having to get our edges dulled, and have our hair loved off and be willing to be a bit shabby.
Are you REAL? What do you do that moves you beyond the fangurl stage to shabby?
C C Cedras
K R Brorman
S A Young
3 Comments
August 12, 2015 at 10:12 am
Great post – great food for thought.
I feel like a “real” writer when I write something, either for this blog, my film blog or for our WIP, for the sheer joy of writing. I’m trying to make fitness a daily committment (because I do love the buzz from the fitbit and when my stats show I’ve hit my calorie mark lol) but I’m not there yet, ask me a month or a year from now. 🙂
August 12, 2015 at 10:35 am
I have to be careful about just fixin’ to get started whenever I am wanting to tackle something. At some point, I have to just START. We can get all the tools lined up and looking pretty but if they aren’t used, they may as well be bugs sitting there annoying me. This week has been about “doing”for me and I appreciate knowing that others fight the battle as well. Here’s to not being afraid of the hard work.
August 12, 2015 at 11:06 am
First, thank you for that link to the fangurl blog (Miss Autocorrect just tried to tell me that “fangurl” should be “fan fuel”, which I found to be quite insightful for once) — I’d love to say I’m “real”, but, if I’m honest, I know I waste time that my butt should be in the chair and my fingers writing.
Do I love to write? Oh, YES! So, why in the world do I let all the other demanded things on my plate drag me away from what I love doing? Rhetorical. I know the answer.