For anyone who has ever wondered if you're a writer, I look at this way (these thoughts, by the way, are spurred on by a friend of mine who is a certified "artist" and whose father was a famous artist -- as if we need that distinction for clout-- and this can relate to other arts as well):

If you write, if you feel the creative flow moving through you, you are a writer.

We are taught from a young age that only the "best" make it in any given category. If, by third grade, you haven't made it into the top 3 in your class, that's likely not your path in life. It sends most of us down a crap shoot wondering what our skills or purpose in life could be. Many find a narrow path when indeed that couldn't be farther from the truth.

 

Wild Violets

My partner is currently a "late onset hunter".

Hunting season started last weekend and he has yet to get a deer. All year he poured over books about deer, strategizing hunting and studying the behavior of this gentle yet strong animal. Last year he ultimately got a deer with the help of a friend of ours who is a lifelong hunter, one who started to hunt at an early age.

I'm thankful I have a partner in this homesteading gig who believes he can learn new skills well into his life and isn't held back by limiting beliefs. It's one of the saddest things when I hear people say, "Well, I couldn't do that, I'm not an X." -or- " I can't do that, I've never done it before." When we are kids we often aren't limited by these types of thoughts as much as we are when we get older.

Though don't we hear it all the time?

Sadly this is too true! We hear people's limitations -- and our own, all the damn time.

I'm no good at that, I could never try this, etc ad nauseam. Luckily, the universe can be gentle and kind and remind us that indeed "it is never too late" and if you have a passion, by all means, go at it with all you've got!!

Coming back around to writing.

I often find I am "hit" with inspiration. It's a common occurrence when I'm meditating - my brain comes up with the "best ideas" and sometimes they distract me til I take a moment to jot them down. Other times I'll read something that inspires a thought train in me and still other times, writing prompts come about from dreams, when I'm taking a walk or when I've been ruminating on a subject for a while and I finally know the angle I want to write from.

 

If you want to be a writer, my best advice is to start.

To keep going.

 

To write in private embellishing your secret urges until you are self unconscious enough to share it.

I've thought about this many times when people share their hesitancies to make Vlogs and share their face on videos- what are we truly afraid of? Yes humans are notoriously, painfully judgmental, but at the end of the day who cares? I'd much rather be seen through the eyes of someone who has a compassionate heart than through, as ole Teddy has said many times, a critic who never enters the ring themselves.

What I admire most about my late-onset hunter partner is that even though he gets discouraged by not getting a deer the first few days of the season, he still wakes (us all) up at 5 AM to go out and try again. Though he may not know the culture of the gun ranges, he still goes and chats it up with people who likely have been shooting a gun as long as they have been chewing gum. We could all learn from this. About the art of not giving a damn what the crowds may say. About the skill of trying, trying again, until we've satisfied our own inner muse and they feel that the craft is ready to be shared in the light of day.

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://www.ozarkmountainjewel.com/2018/11/14/can-you-be-a-writer-if-you-want-to-be/

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