First things first—writing is for everyone.

Some imagined pre-existing skill is not a prerequisite for creativity and passion. You do not need to be “good” at writing to explore it, and you’re probably not going to be until after you start. No amount of creative writing classes or poetry seminars are going to “make you a writer.” There is no magical endpoint, no standard to shoot for, no phrasing that will transition you from “bad writer” to “good writer.” There is just you, your words, your experiences, and your imagination, trying to create something bigger than yourself. No ifs, ands, or buts, writing is for you. If you write, you are a writer.

I published my first book when I was 18 years old. It’s a poetry collection, and it sold pretty well for a self-published, minimally-advertised first book. That was four years ago now, and for the last four years, I’ve found myself putting a lot of pressure on “the next one.” Almost subconsciously, everything I write is with “Am I comfortable with people reading this?” rattling around in my head. I hold up writing another book as a pinnacle of my authorship, as the obvious right move, without ever asking myself whether I want to write another book.

Many people who say, “I would love to write a book someday,” have a greatly idealized vision of the process. They imagine sitting in a home office, at a coffee shop, or in a library, for hours at a time, words flowing smoothly and perfectly, no planning or backtracking needed. Or maybe they don’t imagine the writing process at all, but only the results.

They imagine taking their work to their friends, their partner, their parents, and receiving stunned praise. They imagine sending their manuscript to a publisher who immediately accepts it. They imagine their books in stores around the world, where they get to travel for signings and meet-and-greets, and their inbox is full of praise and podcast invitations.

And why wouldn’t they—maybe you—imagine these things? We all want ease, prosperity, and recognition. That’s only human. But it’s not accurate to what writing a book looks like. Writing is hard, often isolating work. And for many people, writing is the dreaded part to slog through in order to reach the crown of “author” that comes with thundering applause.

But for most of us, authorship does not come with acclaim right away, if ever. Marketing can be more challenging than actually writing the book. Would you still want to write a book if it meant just that? Writing a book. If only your best friends read it, or your therapist read one chapter, or no one else ever laid eyes on it. If it was just for you. Do you enjoy the process of writing? Or is it a necessary evil of ending up with a product?

I am in no way arguing that writing is only pure-intentioned if it’s private, nor that it’s wrong to want to share it. On the contrary. Words are meant to be shared. Connection is a human need, and the written word its age-old facilitator. There is immense power in sharing your writing and in reading others’. But we have somehow taken this shared understanding of the importance of language and twisted it into a hierarchy.

Despite my own perception, I have done a lot of writing over the past four years. I journal religiously. I write poetry and zines to de-stress. I write short stories for fun. I write personal essays to reverse funnel and make sense of the world. I write blog posts. I copywrite for my business. I write reports for my clients. I write articles on Medium and LinkedIn. Man, I completed a bachelor’s degree, and that alone comes with more writing than I can begin to conceptualize.

But I’ve convinced myself I haven’t gotten any writing done because I’ve made very little progress on my book manuscripts. I, subconsciously, hold books as a “higher” form of writing than articles or journal entries or whatever else.

Late-stage capitalism has convinced us that our work must be within specific boundaries to “count” or be worthy of recognition as “work.” We’re taught from the ground up to monetize our hobbies. I couldn’t tell you how many side hustles I’ve had or how many business ideas I came up with as a teenager. It seems like every time I find something I love, someone tells me to sell it. This is largely what’s caused a writing hierarchy to evolve. Shared work is more valuable than private work, and monetized work is more valuable than shared work.

This isn’t a critique of individuals. This world is increasingly hard to live in, and people have to get by somehow. I myself monetize my writing when I can. Making money is not the issue. (But if you’re trying to make money, a book is probably not the way to do it.) The issue is when we start to dread what we once loved and constantly pressure ourselves to create more, new, better.

For a lot of people, writing can just be writing. You don’t actually have to write a book for your work to be fulfilling. You can write fanfiction and post it anonymously on Archive of Our Own, if you want. It still counts. You are still a writer.

If you want to write a book, please do. The world needs more creativity. We need new voices and new stories. I work with writers for a living, and I would never ever read someone’s work and tell them, “You shouldn’t be an author.” There is no gate. If you want to write a book, please trust there is someone who will need it. But ask yourself, “Why a book?” Not out of a desire to change your mind, but out of gentle curiosity. Where are you placing your current work in a hierarchy of possibilities? Where are you looking for your worth?

I might write another book one day. I’m not working on one right now. I am writing. All the time. And my best work are the pieces I wrote with no strong arm over the result.

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