The other day I ran across this quote from James Baldwin:
"You've got to tell the world how to treat you. If the world tells you how you are going to be treated, you are in trouble."
It reminded me of an email I received recently from an aspiring writer who was doubting herself because she hadn't sold anything yet. "Am I even a writer?" she asked.
She was letting the world--or one part of the world--define her.
I told her, "You write, therefore you are a writer. If tomorrow a publisher accepts your novel, are you a different person? If a publisher never accepts your novel, are you a different person?"
Yes, of course, most of us want our work to reach and affect others.
We can decide whether to submit our work to publishers or producers, and we can decide not to be discouraged (for long) when it takes time to find somebody who wants to buy what we've written.
We have the option of publishing it ourselves or, admittedly with greater difficulty, making a film ourselves.
But, most of all, it's our decision whether or not we are writers, not anybody else's. When we are confident and proceed with boldness, the world tends to pay attention--sooner or later.
Having doubts is natural--probably like you, I have days when I lose heart. On those days it's good to remember James Baldwin's words and get back to our desks and do what we were born to do.
