Writing When Others Don’t Support You

Writing is hard. (Like, really hard.) If others don’t support you, it’s even harder.

In this video, I talk about one writer’s negative experience, emphasizing that it’s more important to believe in the message you have to communicate than focus on yourself or what others think of your work.

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https://youtu.be/MHLxDL9bquw

[Transcript summary]

A couple of weeks ago, I had come across this article by another author. And basically, she was recounting how her family just was not supportive of her career at all. And she was explaining how she really had this drive and how she really wanted to write and that was, like, her passion. And at every turn, her family was basically putting her down about it and trying to get her to take other jobs.

So, this is something that I personally have dealt with. I know what that is like. But what I have to say about that is, you do not have to be sure necessarily of yourself to continue. You just have to be sure of the writing. What do you want to say? The message itself, if the message itself is important enough, you will feel the urgency to keep writing no matter what anybody else tells you.

So, that is one of the ways that you can understand if your message is refined enough. And I don’t care if it’s nonfiction, fiction, whatever. But if you know that — you have this sense that is going to make a difference or it’s going to bring joy to somebody or help in some way and that it matters and that will not leave you, you cling to that and you don’t stop. It doesn’t matter. Because it’s not about you. It is about the message. The message that you want to write, that matters. That will, that can — it doesn’t even matter if you have your byline. That can be past you.

So, if you have trouble and people aren’t believing in you, they’re giving you a rough time, think about your message, is it worthwhile, and just keep going. Take care, everybody.