A Post a Day in May #2: Who are we?

I have pledged to write a new post for this blog every day in May. 

I want to be a writer and am writing to get myself there. In the back of my mind, I know that I expect to, one day, wake up and walk into the realization that I. AM. A. WRITER. But the other day, I read a column that changed my mind and that perspective. 

This is me, aged about 10

For Jane Friedman, her business is writing. She writes about writing and writers and the business of being a writer. She is well known for her excellent blog, her book and her smart advice based on many years’ experience in the writing and publishing world. 

I have her book, subscribe to her email newsletter and follow her on Facebook. I am a devotee of her perspective and advice. So a recent guest column on her blog caught my attention and challenged my approach. 

Susan DeFreitas wrote about developing a writing practice by not letting your mind get in the way of your plans. Yes, your hand puts the letters on the page or screen, but it’s in your mind, she says, that your identity as capital W Writer is forged. 

She suggests that we not wait for our feelings to catch up with our behaviour. Instead, behave the way you want to see yourself and be seen by others, and your mind will catch up and inform your feelings. 

For wanna-be writers she offers three concrete actions to take — 

1. Invest in yourself through subscriptions to relevant magazines, blogs and other resources: Each time one arrives on your literal or virtual doorstep, you are reminded of who you are (trying to be). 
2. Claim your desired identity: Practice saying it out loud — to yourself and to others. 
3. Claim your space: Do not write at the corner of the cluttered kitchen table. Create that room of your own and write in it. 

I am already doing 1 and 3; it’s #2 that I am struggling with. But while struggling, I am also writing. I’ve put myself on the path, so my body is doing. It’s just my mind that needs to catch up. And over the course of this month of May, I intend to pull it along behind me — hard — until it does exactly that. 

A closing word: I am not for one minute suggesting that simply saying something makes it so (ixnay on The Secret). But I am saying that our habits are formed by our behaviour, so it does make sense to me that we behave in ways that help us be who we want to be. Mind + action = progress: “I am a Writer” + writing = shifting identity. 

Who are you? And how is your behaviour encouraging and modelling your sense of self? 

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