Expectations vs Reality of a Writing Career

If you’ve ever watched 500 Days of Summer, you might remember a particular scene (spoilers).

Near the end of the movie, Tom (Joseph Gordan-Levitt) is invited to Summer’s (Zooey Deschanel) party.

After dating for over a year and having it end, Tom is eagerly hoping this party is a way to get back together with Summer.

As Tom walks up to her apartment, the movie splits into two screens; Tom’s expectations and reality.

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Tom’s expectations show him having a wonderful time with Summer throughout the party. By the end of the night, they end up together again, ultimately meeting his expectations.

Tom’s reality, however, offers a different experience.

Instead of Summer hanging out with Tom at the party, she’s seen with another guy.

Tom eventually sees the engagement ring on Summer’s hand and storms out.

I love this scene because everyone’s expectations are almost always different from their reality.

How often have you given up on something because it didn’t meet your expectations?

Consider the false reality of a career in writing.

You’ve heard the stories of people making 10k in a month from writing at home.

Now you want to try it.

You know you are a decent writer because your high school English teacher told you that you are really talented.

Your reality as a writer.

· You have 5 followers after a month.

· You make 100 dollars over 6 months.

I hate to sound like Negative Nancy, but this is true of a lot of writers.

You can dream all you want of being the next Hemingway, but there’s one certainty you must always come to terms with — failure.

Every great writer has failed at some point.

If your expectations as a writer are to have 25k followers and making 10k after a month, then your reality will probably be a failure.

If you ask any successful writer how long it took to be where they are today, they will always tell you it took over a month. It took over 6 months. It may have taken 10 years.

But they realized the reality of being persistent.

And persistence doesn’t just mean to write every day until you get noticed.

Persistence is devoting time to your craft. Learning how to write better.

It may take months to build a following.

And you may get paid nickels and dimes for a while before anything happens.

But this is the reality of a writer.

Devoting your life to writing isn’t always about the money. Sure, getting paid lots of money to write words would be nice.

Writing isn’t about worrying what people say or who’s following you.

It’s about what you say and your experiences.

You have a voice to express yourself.

There’s an opportunity to tell your story.

That is your reality.

Expectations vs Reality of a Writing Career was originally published in C.R.Y on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.