In my last post, I gave 6 reasons to become a writer. Today I want to explore the opposite side of this question: 5 reasons not to become a writer. This post is not meant to be a discouragement to anyone, but rather it is to truly look at some of the pros and cons of writing.

1. Writing is hard. I’m going to be honest here: writing is hard. Writing is fun and fulfilling and you can make a difference, but like a lot of things, it’s hard. Sometimes you wonder why you can’t think of any words to put on the page, or why no one is following your blog, or why you haven’t heard back from that agent or publisher yet. And then there’s people who say writing isn’t a legitimate career and sometimes you would rather just treat it like a hobby (even though you know you actually want it to be more than that) and sometimes your brain is just tired and your schedule is busy and you want to be done.

Writing is hard, but if you really love it, then it is worth it. Most things that are worth doing are hard. We should not choose the easy route simply because it’s easy, but rather we should choose to do things that are hard because they make us grow. By doing hard things, we are prepared for whatever other hard things God may put in our path. So yes writing is hard, but if you truly love it and want to make a difference, then it is worth it.

2. People think you’re weird. Not only do people think you are weird, but you probably actually are. Do you get overly excited about things other people don’t understand? Do you get annoyed by things that don’t bother normal people? What about being an adult or teenager who would like to spend your days coming up with fantasy lands and reading books? Yes, if you’re a writer, you’re probably weird.

But it’s okay to be weird, everyone is a little weird sometimes. And writing is not the weirdest thing to be obsessed with. Another fun thing about writing is that if you reach out to other writers, you discover other people who are just as crazy about writing as you are. You can make true connections with people and experience friendships because you both have writing in common. It’s okay to be a little strange sometimes.

3. Your brain will want to explode with ideas then two seconds later you won’t know anything. This is a common writing problem: sometimes your brain is bursting with creativity and ideas and then suddenly you don’t know how to express any of it. This can be a frustrating problem and there is no easy remedy except to keep writing whether you feel inspired or not. But writing when you don’t feel inspired can be frustrating and not being able to write when you are bursting with creativity can also be frustrating.

This is not necessarily a bad thing if you train yourself to write well and consistently. If you only write when you feel like it, you will rarely do well. Be consistent with your writing and make time for what you care about and you will become a better and better writer and encounter this problem less and less often.

4. Your heart is linked to your stories and characters so sometimes it gets broken. When you spend hours and days and weeks and months writing a story, your heart becomes linked to what you are writing. And then your book will get rejected or someone will say it’s not good or that they don’t like it. You love what you write, so when someone else doesn’t, it makes you feel unwanted.

You should love your stories and everything you write, but as writers, we must be careful not to let our identity get wrapped up in what we write. We are not our stories. Even if some of your writing is bad, it does not mean you are a bad writer or a bad storyteller. You should put your heart into your writing, but you must always remember that your identity and worth are never in what you do. Instead, it is in who God has created you to be and if you are a Christian, who God has changed you to be.

4. Storytelling is addictive. It’s true. Once you start telling stories, it is hard to stop. It doesn’t even matter what kind of story, but once you have one idea and you start writing it, more and more ideas will start flowing and will likely never stop. Even if you put writing aside for awhile, that writing part of your brain will always return for more. So when you start, be aware you might never be able to stop coming up with ideas.

5. You must be both vulnerable and tough skinned. If you want to write professionally, or even if you just want other people to read your work, you must be tough skinned. You must prepare yourself for when things are hard and keep pushing through even when you don’t feel like it or when people aren’t impressed with your work. You have to build a thick skin so you can be ready for rejections and one star reviews and less than helpful comments. But while you must be tough skinned, you must also be soulful and vulnerable. If you don’t put your heart in your stories, they will not be as great as they can be. They will not reach their full potential if they are only telling in a way that is disconnected from your heart and from your readers.

Having to be tough and vulnerable are not bad things (in fact, many times in life we must be both) but it is something that we must train ourselves to do while writing and storytelling. If you are only vulnerable you will get hurt and if you are closed off and tough your stories will be too.

To tell a good story you must be vulnerable; to let others read it you must be tough skinned.

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Well there we have it, 5 reasons not to be a writer. Perhaps a better title for this post would have been “five things to be aware of when becoming a writer.” Because if you truly love writing and want to become a writer, then these will all be worth it!

Are there any other pros and cons of writing you would have added? Let me know your answers in the comments below!