I was making slides for one of my workshops called ‘Novel Dreamers Do’ and made a slide called ‘Recognise your writing journey’ and it’s about all the ways we’ve been apprenticing as writers even before we’re published.
What if we recognise that we are writers before we are published? And then after we’re published.
I started writing creatively around 2008, self-published my first novel in 2015, and also had poetry and short prose in two anthologies in 2014 and 2015. I was awarded Bursaries for Literature towards my learning and to attend the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Co. Monahan. I facilitated other writers and helped run a writer’s group. I’ve read books and done so many courses on all aspects of creative writing. I don’t stop.
And I didn’t call myself a writer until 2021. I didn’t see myself as a writer. I wrote stuff about myself like ‘Cecilia Carelse, author of The Alien Eve’ on my website but didn’t really believe it. I think I had this idea that if I didn’t do a Masters in creative writing or was published traditionally, then I wasn’t a ‘real’ writer.
So I have this slide created with all the things to recognise in a writing journey or a novel writing journey. To remind myself, mostly, as well.
This is what’s on the slide:
Recognise your writing journey
- Writing – when did it start, how much, what types?
- Reading – when did it start, how much, what types?
- Watching (World, TV, Films, Internet) – when did it start?
- Listening (World, Radio, Podcasts, etc) – when did it start?
- Creative writing – really, when did it start?
- Writing community, Genre community
- Publishing
- Performing our writing
- Teaching, facilitating writers
- Learning writing craft – books, courses, practice.
The slide before this one is blank. It’s to be filled in by the workshop participants on the day, calling out to me all the things.
And that slide has the question ‘What’s on or in a writing journey?’
So I want to leave you with the same question:
What has been in your writing journey?
When did you start writing and learning about stories, and practicing your writing craft?
Hint: As above, you’ve probably been apprenticing in writing and learning about stories since childhood.
Here’s to all our unique and varied writing journeys,
Cecilia
