Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • Earth Song
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

3 Rules for Pretending to Be a Writer

By Charity Singleton Craig 6 Comments

I hear the boys playing in one of the bedrooms. Their voices are confident as they navigate an imaginary world in which they are the protectors against all manner of evil.

Since their guns are only plastic and their battle zone is really a 10-year-olds’ bedroom with a Star Wars comforter and Legos on the shelf, they announce their actions and describe for each other their surroundings. They say things like, “I come around the corner and then you see me.” Or “I’m loading my gun while you are running ahead into the building.”

As I head into the bedroom, I remember the Neil Gaiman quote that I have drawn on so much in my writing life lately, the one where he tells a woman to “pretend that she was someone who could do it” when faced with a task she wasn’t sure how to tackle. “Not pretend to do it, ” he clarifies in Make Good Art,  “but pretend she was someone who could. She put up a notice to this effect on the studio wall, and she said it helped.”

Lately, I’ve been wondering what it might look like to apply those “rules of pretending” that children know so well in their play to my writing life, to pretend to be a writer who knows how to develop a sustainable career.

The Rules of Pretending to Be a Writer

Rule 1: Decide who you want to be

Each time the boys play like this, they decide for themselves who they want to be. They might fill in the backstory as they go, but they always announce to each other, “I’m the prison guard, ” or “I’m the captain.”

When it comes to my writing life, I won’t just wake up one day and discover I have published a book. It starts by deciding I am a writer. I don’t have to be annoying about it, but in order for me to move confidently in the world of words, I need to tell other people I am a writer and to accept their affirmation of this news.

Sometimes, I don’t feel like a writer or believe I should call myself one. On those days, I have to pretend. At the very least, I may just have to fill in the backstory for myself and others as I go: I write on my blog; I write for a few online publications; I am writing a book.

Rule 2: Tell people what you are doing

Just as the boys have to describe the world they are creating and the actions they are performing, so too, I may need to reveal to the world the work I am doing. Blog posts can go unnoticed; short stories may never get published; books take a long time to write.

In the meantime, I can maintain my momentum by telling people what I am working on, by creating interest in my writing by sharing it with others.

But that means rubbing shoulders with other writers. That requires a rule of its own.

Rule 3: Make room for other people

Sometimes, when the boys are playing, I hear their voices rise a little, their tone becoming a little too sharp. “You can’t do that!” one of them will say. Or, “I was supposed to be the one to arrest him!”

I have to resist the urge to intervene. “It’s not real!” I want to tell them, so they can get back to getting along. But the point isn’t whether the situation is real or not. The point is whether they can find a place for each other in this make-believe world, whether they can keep playing together.

While the writing life has its solitary moments, the modern writer with one eye on social media and building a platform has to figure out how to make room for other writers. We can get so competitive with one another, wanting others’ success for ourselves. Often, it’s not real–the rivalry we create in our minds with other writers. But we must approach our writing life from a place of abundance, not scarcity, to see that there’s room for everyone, all the books and blogs and essays and poems.

Just like my sons’ imaginary play, the point is not whether another writer’s book sales affect mine. Not really.

It’s about whether we as writers can all learn to play nicely together.

Photo by stevendepolo, Creative Commons license via Flickr. Post by Charity Singleton Craig.

__________________

Every Day Poems Driftwood

Want to become a better writer? Read a poem a day.

Buy a year of Every Day Poems, just $5.99. In February, we’re exploring the theme Spanish Lace.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Charity Singleton Craig
Charity Singleton Craig
Charity Singleton Craig is the author of The Art of the Essay: From Ordinary Life to Extraordinary Wordsand co-author of the popular title On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life That Lasts. She has served as an editor, contributing writer, and workshop leader for Tweetspeak Poetry and currently writes for corporate clients and publications such as Edible Indy. She is also a two-time recipient of the Arts in the Parks and Historic Sites Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, to write about the state parks and present writing programs to park visitors.
Charity Singleton Craig
Latest posts by Charity Singleton Craig (see all)
  • Grammar for a Full Life Book Club: On Becoming Less Possessive - June 16, 2021
  • Grammar for a Full Life Book Club: Chilling Out on the Grammar Rules - June 9, 2021
  • Grammar for a Full Life Book Club: A Passive Voice - June 2, 2021

Filed Under: Become a Better Writer, Blog, Writing Life, Writing Tips

Try Every Day Poems...

About Charity Singleton Craig

Charity Singleton Craig is the author of The Art of the Essay: From Ordinary Life to Extraordinary Words and co-author of the popular title On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life That Lasts. She has served as an editor, contributing writer, and workshop leader for Tweetspeak Poetry and currently writes for corporate clients and publications such as Edible Indy. She is also a two-time recipient of the Arts in the Parks and Historic Sites Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, to write about the state parks and present writing programs to park visitors.

Comments

  1. Maureen Doallas says

    February 19, 2014 at 9:27 am

    Well-written essay, Charity.

    When someone asks, “What do you do?”, the confidence-building response is, “I write.” The active voice can make a difference, and precludes the notion of pretense.

    Reply
  2. Charity Singleton Craig says

    February 19, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    Thanks, Maureen. I think you are on to something: “I write” is much different than “I am a writer.” The end result might be the same, but it’s less about who I am and more about what I do. Sometimes, I need to leave writing there.

    Reply
  3. Anne M Doe Overstreet says

    February 22, 2014 at 12:44 pm

    Yes! Wonderful insight. I think I am going to have to post the Gaiman quote on my own wall.

    Reply
    • Charity Singleton Craig says

      February 25, 2014 at 7:36 pm

      Anne – I need to post that Gaiman quote on my wall, too. Thanks for your comment.

      Reply
  4. freds garden furniture says

    November 23, 2015 at 5:20 am

    Thanks for sharing such a pleasant thought, paragraph is good, thats why i have
    read it entirely

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 3 Rules for Pretending to Be a Writer - Charity Singleton Craig says:
    December 21, 2017 at 6:56 pm

    […] CONTINUE READING @TWEETSPEAK POETRY […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our May Menu

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

The Graphic Novel

"Stunning, heartbreaking, and relevant illustrations"

Callie Feyen, teacher

read a summary of The Yellow Wallpaper

meet The Yellow Wallpaper characters

How to Write Poetry

Your Comments

  • Glynn on World War II Had Its Poets, Too
  • Sandra Fox Murphy on World War II Had Its Poets, Too
  • Glynn on Poets and Poems: Kelly Belmonte and “The Mother of All Words”
  • Bethany R. on Poets and Poems: Kelly Belmonte and “The Mother of All Words”

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions
  • • The Write to Poetry

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2025 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy