Upon further reflection, I equate the skill of writing fiction to other creative careers. Going pro means they have made a commitment to create work that resonates on a professional level, because that is their job.
As a graphic designer, I went pro in the late 90s. I’ve put enormous amounts of pressure on myself to always do creative work that meets MY high standards. Granted, not every piece is going to be a homerun, and sometimes there are factors beyond your control that will affect the final file. Every graphic designer knows that annoyance. Despite all that… we FINISH THE JOB.
I think that’s part of why I find writing so difficult. Even though I’m slowly building a writing habit, I struggle a lot to put these blogs together. I struggle even harder with fiction writing. Then I don’t finish, because I have that option, and it’s consequence-free (except I lose out in the satisfaction of rising to a creative challenge, I lose out in learning from mistakes and creative growth.)
There’s also something to be said about giving in to the comfort of research and workshops, rather than actually writing. I’m very guilty of doing this. I mentioned this in my other blog post on writing.
A professional writer may go through the same doubts, failures, and external factors like editors, producers and other stakeholders in the writing output. The difference is, the professional writer FINISHES THE JOB.
