I Refuse to Aspire Any Longer

Time for an untimely blog post (because that's what I do lately when I'm in the throes of writing). This will hopefully be a short one (or not, depends on whether or not I get wind-baggy. The fact that this is the second parentheses in as many sentences does not bode well for that).

I've unceremoniously obliterated the word "Aspiring" from this blog's title. I've had enough. I refuse to "aspire" to be a writer any more. I've spent the better part of 4 years... that's right...
FOUR... 
YEARS...
..."aspiring" to be a writer.

I've written a longer-than-novel length work. Re-written it from the ground up with a new main character and a tighter plot. Revised that 6 times and pared it down. Polished it. Had it Critiqued. Re-polished it. Queried it. Received a mountain of rejections. Received more than a few requests for more pages. I've even sent out a few full manuscripts when they were requested. I've received rejections on those.

More than that, I've written other stuff. I have outlines and "voice/character" vignettes written for four more books. I've written 45,000 words on one of them and 16,000 words on another. All while "aspiring" to be a writer.


Well, I quit. I'm done. No more. This "aspiring writer" thing is for chumps and I'm not going to play that game. I'm taking that ball and going home.

 I have better things to do with my time.


Like being an actual writer. Lets get down to the point of the matter. I haven't been "aspiring" to be a writer since that first time I wrote "the end" (all in lower case, just like that) at the end of a ~140,000 word manuscript. It didn't have to be that long (it's now ~91,000 words), but it was. And I made it start to finish (not necessarily in that order).

So it's time I got honest, not just with you, fair readers (few as you are, you're important enough to be honest with), but also to myself. I'm not "aspiring" to be a writer any more. That's not a label I can hide behind whenever someone doesn't take my writing seriously. Playing off it as some sort of self-effacing joke.

It doesn't matter that I'm not published (yet!). It doesn't matter that I don't have an agent (yet!).

I take my writing very seriously. This is not a hobby for me (and it's fine if it is for other people). I will continue down this path, working to improve my craft.

I am a writer. I don't have time to aspire.

- Alex