“Please provide a website link to your portfolio.”
This was a field I dreaded in application forms. “Does a Tumblr blog site count?” I cringe at my ignorance whenever I remember my younger self happily type down the link to my personal blog. Alas, everyone was at a position where we knew less about things at one point in our lives. It’s what makes human growth interesting.
I wrote a lot when I was a kid. Comics and novels were my products, and my peers (who were between the ages of 11 to 16 years old) loved them. I’ve always gotten praise from my equally young readers and they pestered me for the next chapter or the newest story. It made me think that I was good. Of course, I was wrong. That realization came from my formal training, in the form of a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing. It made me realize that audiences are diverse. The more read and experienced they are, the more scrutinizing they would be. My college years increased the layers of my skin. I had to especially when someone is dissecting my work, which I treat like my child of my own flesh and blood, to smithereens. I wasn’t discouraged. I kept on going and I loved those four years I spent writing in college.
After graduating, I was thrust into the real world with a Creative Writing degree. Now, what do I do?
The very first advice that one of my Comparative Literature professors told me in college was that “If you want to succeed in writing...marry well.” I will never forget that. Not because it was good advice, but because it was discouraging when you imagine yourself trying to make a living as a writer.
I had no idea what freelancing meant or what copyediting was. I came to a point where I even second-guessed myself for not taking journalism classes because I thought that could be a more practical way to earn as a writer. What I thought was a career in publishing books, ended up into a string of editing jobs and years working as a web content writer. Don’t get me wrong, I loved those jobs. I learned valuable lessons and gained experience from them. But I wished I learned these three things while I was just starting out:
There Are Other Ways to Earn through Writing
I can’t find a photo of me writing, so here I am climbing a natural rock wall.
When I applied to become a web content writer at an outsourcing company, I had no idea what SEO, pay-per-click or Adword campaigns were. When I took the writing test during the initial interview, it took me an hour and a half to finish a hundred-word marketing description for a makeup campaign. I was surprised that I got hired.
As I began working, those terms began making sense. Funny how you learn most things outside of school. The job turned out to be an experience that I still cherish up to this day. I was surrounded by creative people, I got to work in a relaxed office environment and I got to write every single day. Although it wasn’t writing prose which I thoroughly enjoyed, it was the type of writing that still exercised my creativity and at the same time has its practical uses. It was also around the time when everyone was starting to rely on the internet as a marketing avenue. Everyone began building websites for their businesses. The growing industry of SEO marketing was an opportunity for writers like me. Website building did not only require code but it also needed a touch of creativity.
I’ve helped hundreds of businesses stand out by writing their story and engage their target audience, all while being aware that the content could create tangible data, leads, and results for their business. It was a different kind of writing and sometimes challenging at that. Nevertheless, I’m glad I’ve stumbled into it and have become adept at it.
There Is No Audience When You Don’t Submit
I’ve been very afraid of submitting my work. Chalk it up to giving up at the age of 20 when I received a few rejection emails months after submitting stories. I have to admit that I’ve slacked with my fiction writing up until only about two years ago. I was wasting my passion, and even wasting time to hone my skills as a writer. I had a bad case of writer's block, I just didn’t have time, I made every single excuse possible in the book. Should I even call myself a writer? I was slowly losing that part of me. Last year, my husband gifted me a self-help book called The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Stephen Pressfield. Self-help books were my least favorite books, but I was ready to change. I’m so thankful that I read the book because it was basically written for people like me! There was a resistance that was preventing me from doing the thing that I love most, and I was feeding that resistance with procrastination and excuses. It was time to get to work.
I began creating a body of work again, read books to inspire me, outlined plots and characters, wrote short stories, and even finished my first novel. But was I ready to submit it? Not exactly. My fear of rejection isn’t as bad as it was, but I knew that I needed to improve. If I didn’t have my work critiqued or edit it properly, it was never going to be ready for the world to see. So, I rallied fellow writers and asked them for their precious time to read my work and critique it as honestly as they can. It helps to have another person look at your writing because they can point out if your ideas make sense at all. Nobody wants their readers to misunderstand the meanings they are trying to convey. This process made me comfortable in gauging if my work was ready to be submitted or am I still in practice mode.
I’ve read somewhere that “writing is only practice when you’re not letting the world see it.” And it’s true. Right now, you may just be working on your craft as a writer but it’s good to have a meticulous editor to look at your work before you send it out. After all, the goal is to be read, right?
If You’re a Writer, Have a Website
And now we’re here. I have finally built my website where everyone can see the work I’ve done. Not only that, I’ve given the added bonus of including my penchant for drawing and illustrating. If I wanted to succeed in what I love doing, then I have to put myself out there. I had to get over the fear of rejection, I had to stop wasting time, and I had to stop hiding in the dark. It’s time for me to introduce myself to the world. This is me, I’m a writer. I also identify myself as an illustrator. It’s time to be proactive and put my writing skills to good use, and what better way to market myself than having my own website.
Every writer should have their own website to show what they have accomplished. We should be proud of our improvements and our work. Having a website not only gives us a way to connect with readers or customers, but it’s also a way for us to see how much we’ve grown as artists. It’s hard because your work will not always please everyone, but you’re not here to please everyone. You’re here to show that you are talented and you are capable of moving onto the next level. Writers are neither static beings nor stuck in a stunted state. Writers go through constant metamorphoses through their work. That’s what your website should say about you.
If I knew then what I know now about being a writer, would I have chosen a different path? No. But that’s the thing about me, I love a challenge. Maybe your project is my next challenge!