Growing up, we’re often told that we can be anything we want to be. But the dreams that tend to be encouraged are the ones that require years of higher education and the chance at a high paying/high profile career that will allow us to start a family and buy all the things (home, car, etc.). Creative pursuits like writing, however, are often viewed as hobbies or pastimes.
Yes, our creative tendencies might be tolerated by our friends and family, but they’re not always encouraged. And for some writers, those voices are the ones that speak the loudest.
Merriam-Webster defines the word “encourage” as “to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope. To hearten.” It also defines it as “to attempt to persuade: to urge”; “to spur on: to stimulate”; and “to give help or patronage to: to foster.”
Where do you need a bit of encouragement in your writing journey?
Words have always been important to me, whether they’re spoken to me or the words I speak to others. As a writer, my goal has always been to find ways to encourage others, to build them up, and to cheer them on. And when I decided I wanted to pursue my dream of becoming a freelance editor, I decided that I didn’t just want to offer editorial services to writers. I wanted to encourage them too.
There’s a reason I end most of my posts with the words “Write boldly and with courage” or “Endure fort” (which is also the Lindsay clan motto, and means “endure with strength”). It’s because I know for as blessed as I am to have a family who has encouraged me to pursue my creative passions, many writers and creatives are not as fortunate.
As so, for those writers who feel like they’re fighting an uphill battle on their own, I always want to remind them that their dreams of writing are just as important as the dreams of becoming an astronaut, a president, or a surgeon.
Is there an area in your writing journey where you feel like you need some encouragement right now?
I ask because I know we all have them. And I know those needs change depending on the different seasons in our life.
When I first started writing, I needed someone in my life outside of my immediate family who would encourage me to start calling myself a writer. The first people to do that were a couple of my college professors. One showed me I had a skill that just needed some honing and sharpening. Another gifted me with a pocket-sized notebook at my last meeting with her before graduation.
Later on it would be a friend who would insist that I introduce myself as a writer when meeting someone new instead of saying what I did for a day job at the time. It was terrifying and mortifying all at once, but I also discovered that the more I claimed that title out loud, the more I began to think of myself as a writer in my head.
Perhaps you don’t need someone to encourage you to call yourself a writer, but you do need someone to help you see that you’re a good writer or that your current project has merit and potential, even though you might not feel that way about it at the moment.
Or perhaps you need someone to encourage you that it’s okay to step from writing for a season because there’s something going on in another area of your life that truly does need your attention. Just because you can’t write right now doesn’t mean that you can’t or won’t write later on.
I’m always happy to help writers spot what’s working and what needs polishing in their writing, but that’s only one aspect of who I am as an editor. At the end of the day, my greatest hope is that I’ve found a way to hearten someone who was feeling discouraged as writer and persuade them to keep pressing on as they pursue their calling, their passion, and their dream.
Endure fort, my friend!
Jen