I’ve come to realize that chasing success in writing—measured by money, status or popularity—is chasing something very fickle. In The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination (2004), Ursula K. Le Guin challenges the value of being seen as a “successful writer,” stating that “If being perceived as a successful writer is my primary interest, I am not primarily a writer, but a social climber.”
For me, the rewards of writing are voice, creativity, peace, critical thinking, and empathy. These may seem insufficient in a world obsessed with monetary value and public image, but writing offers much more (and often only more) than titles or acclaim. As Joan Didion writes in “Why I Write,” “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”
We should also question how we define success as writers. Zadie Smith writes, “Style is a writer’s way of telling the truth,” suggesting that success lies not just in polished prose, but in the refinement of a consciousness—what Aristotle called the “education of the emotions.” A writer’s value isn’t measured by publications or recognition, but by their relationship with writing. Can you write truthfully? Can you explore experience or emotion with depth and meaning? Do you know why you write?
Here are five tips to help you begin exploring these questions, and in doing so, uncover new creative paths and hidden rivers in your mind.
1. Journal
The hardest part about being a writer is writing. I often struggle with bursts of writerly ambition followed by half a year of not a single word written. Keeping a journal consistently helps keep that writing muscle active without beingdaunting or overwhelming. Writing purely for yourself, without the end goal of publication, payment, or even anaudience, takes the pressure off. Write with no word/page count, no narrative structure, no audience in mind—just the intent to dump some words onto a page.
If free-form journaling feels too open-ended, writing prompts or themes can help you get started. I recently watched a video essay by YouTuber Victoria Frankenstein on keeping a media journal—where you jot down reviews and thoughts on media you’ve consumed. Her channel explores philosophy and contemporary culture; in this video, she discusses 16th-century philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who criticized writers seeking fame over authenticity. Frankenstein argues that private journaling frees you from the pressure of approval, making it easier to stay consistent, improve, and develop a unique voice.
For more thoughts on journalling, check out this article by Lauren Kirshner, which reflects on he her own journalling practices and offers actionable tips, a New York Times article with suggestions from writers on how to journal, and these articles from The Marginalian that explore acclaimed writers/avid journal-keepers like Anaïs Nin and Virgina Woolf and the creative benefits of journalling.
2. Community or Self-Publishing
Once you have conquered the challenge of writing consistently for yourself, you may find yourself with a cool piece you’d like to publish. Submitting to larger publications is challenging and often comes with rejection and uncertainty. But there are plenty of alternatives to publishing, namely community or self-publishing. Find local
publications or zines and submit. Start a blog and self-publish on platforms like Medium or Substack. Create your own zine to showcase your writing and fellow writers around you. Being a published writer doesn’t have to mean a position as Staff Writer at nationally syndicated outlet—independent or alternative mediums are a great way to get your work out too.
3. Writing Workshops and Communities
Writing often feels like a solitary, lonely, uncollaborative process. But you don’t have to spend all your time as a writer cooped up in your own stories and writing, and being published isn’t the only way for people to find your work. Find local writing workshops and build relationships with other writers. Writing workshops bring new eyes to read and edit your work and new work for you to discover. Writing workshops or partners also give you the opportunity to read yourwork out loud—a useful way to sharpen and refine your work. You can check out Eventbrite or your local library for upcoming writing workshops, or explore local writing programs and collectives like Sister Writes (wink, wink).
4. Take the Pressure Off
A writing professor once suggested a solution to crushing writer’s block—downloading transcription apps and rambling out our writing. Instead of staring at a blank page or document, taunted by the blink of a cursor next to unfinished, uninspired sentences, press record and let the thoughts tumble out. This can inspire new ideas for your writing, act as another journal entry, or become an entirely new story.
The pressure of writing a story that will interest editors and audiences, that will sell, can often kill your creativity before you’ve even started. But allowing yourself to write wherever your mind takes you, by building off of random ideas andtrains of thought for example, is one way to fight the dreaded writer’s block. Writing doesn’t involve scheduling a slot of your day and getting a story out, like going to the gym or walking your dog. It’s often impulsive and messy: recordings of your rants or thoughts dumped onto your Notes app. Embrace these unexpected moments of inspiration and let your thoughts guide your writing.
5. Just Muse. Be your own muse!
When you’re stuck in a creative rut, the most obvious solution is to turn to others’ work as a source of inspiration. While reading your favourite authors or combing through your favourite outlets can motivate you to write again, sometimes we forget to look inwards for answers. The word ‘muse’ can mean two things; a muse can be a person who inspires art, and to muse means to reflect or contemplate something. So, if you find yourself seeking inspiration from other books, media or writers, turn to yourself for ideas. Write about your day. Write a scene about an encounter with a stranger that’s stuck with you. Muse about challenges you’re experiencing or your anxieties or your hopes or, if you’d like to be less existential, the last TV show you watched. Read this piece from Sarah Sophie Flicker where she explains looking to yourself (your memories, worldview, intuition) to find inspiration to create. Trust that the endless stream of little thoughts in your mind aren’t completely meaningless—some of your best ideas come from random moments in your life and most importantly, are best told by you. Don’t aim to recreate great authors and stories, learn how to be your own muse.
I’ve realized that what’s taught me to write is to write consistently and just for myself. I learned to enjoy my writing assignments not with the hopes of obtaining academic validation or crafting a publishable piece but because it was fun to write and I had something to say. Painstakingly transcribing every thought brings great clarity and relief for myself, and a needed change of pace to mind numbing doom-and-gloom scrolling on social media. Ultimately, writers must define the role that writing plays in their life. Ask yourself what you want out of writing. Do not write because you dream of being an uber-successful, wealthy writer and do not stop writing because you realize this might be unattainable.
Write because you love to write; write with no means to an end.
