 What's shaking? My name's Cam, welcome back to another video. Before we start, just let me say, don't be fooled by the title of the video. This isn't going to be like a rant or me talking down to anyone. In fact, it's going to be pretty chill. It's going to be, it's going to be a chill video. Maybe not Seth Rogen sleeping in a hammock chill, but it's still pretty chill. I'm not a writing expert or a teacher or anything like that. So the purpose of today's video isn't for me to tell you what to do or how to feel. It's just some things that I've learned in my years of trying to make writing my thing, my passion. Here is the thing, my guy. There are a lot of things about being a writer that just straight up sucks turds. And I don't just mean like whittle itty bitty nibble turds. I mean like mega Amazonian Jason Momoa's forearm sized turds. There's a lot that's pretty awesome about being a writer as well, but that's a video for another day. I didn't get to sleep in as much as I normally do, so I'm feeling just a pinch salty. Anyway guys, like all my videos, I'm just a fellow writer who wants to chat with you like two mates at an outback pub. So get yourself a drink, relax. It's going to be a good day, probably. Hey, by the way, you should follow me on Instagram, cam underscore wolfshot. I've got some bangin' content, like, like this. I like it, cutie. This one is a particularly tricky subject to talk about because, first of all, I don't want to be condescending to anyone. I mean, hell, I might not be a good writer for all I know, but that's why we're talking about this. It's also a pretty delicate subject because a lot of writers have a lot of their self-worth tied up in their abilities. With that said, the fact remains that there are going to be a lot of writers and aspiring authors who simply aren't that good. Like everything in life, there's going to be a lot of stuff that you're good at and a lot of stuff that you're bad at, no matter how much you enjoy doing it. You know, arts, sports, even academic stuff, like, let's say, studying economics. At the end of the day, there's just going to be some people who are unable to do that thing effectively, or at least better than most people. For example, in high school, I thought I was pretty good at science. I did okay in most of my science classes. So naturally, I signed myself up for advanced physics. Nothing has ever knocked me off my high horse, quite like asking one question in the first class, and then having an entire classroom of people look at you like you just crapped on the floor. I'm not great with physics is my point, but who cares? I don't care. Anyway, let's move on. I don't care anymore. I'm over it. Now, here's the important thing, and I'm sure this is what you're already thinking in your head. Yes, you can practice and train at something and be better. I think in almost all cases, if you practice enough, you will get better. But sadly, there is still a difference between practicing and practicing and going from a bad writer to an okay writer, then going from an okay writer to a great one, one of the ones who are remembered, specifically one of the authors who make it, because the sad truth is, like most artistic pursuits, all of the really successful people do have some natural talent to back them up, and unfortunately, natural talent isn't something you can get through practice or training. Some people just have it, and some people don't. Stephen King said this in his book on writing, While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help to make a good writer out of a merely competent one. And that can be either a really inspiring quote, or it can be quite scary when you think about it. And look, at the end of the day, we're not just talking about your technical ability with writing, you know, grammar, pacing, story structure, dialogue, etc. You might be brilliant at those things, but it also comes down to your storytelling and your ability to come up with an interesting idea. It doesn't matter how great you are at actually writing, if your story ideas suck. But luckily, there are professions for people like that. Ghostwriting. One of the hardest things about this whole topic, you know, the idea you might not be a good writer, is that writing, in my personal opinion, a lot more than most other creative hobbies, is so entirely time consuming, and it is such an enormous commitment. Not at all taking away from the passion and skill involved with, let's say, painting, but whereas someone could paint a picture in, you know, a day or two, and then maybe just go and redo it if they think something can be improved, writing a novel or a full story has so many different moving parts, you know, the planning, the actual writing of it, the editing, etc. The list goes on and then actually doing all of those separate parts, putting it together, and then realizing at the last minute it's not that great. You might find that you've just wasted, you know, hundreds of hours of your life. When all is said and done, if writing is your passion, if it's what you want to do more than anything else in life, you have to at least give it a shot. It's better to give it a shot and maybe have it not work out, rather than never even trying and missing out on maybe your dream coming true. I know that's corny, but give me a break. It's true. I hope I'm a good writer, and I'm going to keep trying to make myself a better one with practice and learning from industry professionals, but all you can really do at the end of the day is cross your fingers and hope that you make it. If you self-publish, there are going to be people, quite a lot of people, that are going to refuse to take you seriously as an author. It sucks, but that's just how it is. Self-publishing in 2020 is a much more preferable option for a lot of people, especially writers with an established platform for a lot of reasons. But the fact remains that when it comes to self-publishing, there is no quality gatekeeper that is going to say yes or no to you publishing your book. And that is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing, because I feel like having creative control over your art and its journey should at the very least be an option for everyone. And for a ton of writers, it's a much more profitable option as well. And it's also good, because sometimes publishers will pass up on a good book. It just happens. Look at how many world-class stories almost didn't make it, because they got rejected and rejected and rejected before finally being picked up. Imagine if they'd never been picked up. There are a lot of valid and smart reasons for someone to self-publish, rather than traditionally publish, but there are always going to be people who will only ever see self-publishing as a fallback. This writer failed at being traditionally published, so they self-published. And in some cases, maybe a lot of cases, yeah, that's true. But in 2020, that's just not the case for everyone. There being no gatekeeper for self-publishing is perceived as a bad thing in a lot of cases. And let's be fair, having doubts about self-published books or the quality thereof isn't completely unfounded. When anyone can do it, there is going to be a lot of poor or low quality stuff. That's just how artistic markets work. There is a much higher possibility of errors, grammatical or otherwise. There's a much higher possibility of poor storytelling. There's a much higher possibility of a story or a narrative that just doesn't keep the audience interested. This is a conclusion that a lot of people are just going to jump to. Sure, but in a lot of cases as well, some readers will just get fed up committing all of this time to self-published books that just suck. At the end of the day, personally, I don't really think there's a fix to this. I think the stigma on self-publishing will ease up over time as it becomes a more credible and viable and professional option for a lot of people. But in the meantime, that is something you might have to deal with if you choose to go down that road. If self-publishing seems like a better option for you, I say do it. Just be prepared, you know, because some people might be turds about it and other people might have just had enough bad experiences. Look, I want to be clear with this point. I want to make sure I'm being clear because I'm not downplaying the hard work and dedication that successful writers have put into their books. You know, when you talk about luck playing a part in breaking out as a successful author, people can get the wrong idea. It might seem like I'm saying you only got published because you're lucky, but I promise you I'm not. With that said, when it comes to getting published and your book going big or making it big, luck definitely plays a part. Sometimes it can be luck involving current trends, or it can be something as simple as your book being picked out of a stack by someone important. Sometimes it can be the luck of where you are, who you know. Especially in the traditionally publishing world, having contacts within the publishing industry can be a huge boost. We've seen it time and time again. This happens for a lot of writers in Ivy League colleges. They get noticed by their professor who will put them in touch with some very important contacts and bingo bango book deal. Daniel Mallory is a great example of that, although albeit he did lie a lot as well to get himself to the top. But I've done a whole video on that. I'll leave a card there if you want to check that out. I'll even acknowledge that I am super lucky to have this YouTube channel, this platform for myself. I'm super lucky to have each one of you that tune into my videos just to see what I have to say. So any impact that this YouTube channel has on my future as a writer is something for me to think about as well. If we just be real about it guys, on a purely statistical basis, there is going to be a lot more great writers out there than successful ones. Being a profitable author is pretty competitive, which seems really odd because most writers are introverts who melt in the sunlight. But it's true. Sadly, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of brilliant writers with great stories that you'll never hear about. In a lot of cases because they just weren't lucky enough to be picked out of that stack. So look, I know that 2020 has burned all of our souls into a pile of depression-scented ash, but unless you've become completely devoid of emotion, you are probably going to get jealous from time to time. It happens, it's human, and the more we talk about it, the easier it is to deal with. For example, you might spend years and years and years writing a story, working on it as hard as you can, pouring your blood's wetting tears into it just to try to make it the best it can possibly be, and then in the span of like a year and a half to two years, you might see some YouTuber with giant teeth just tear through and publish a book to the huge support of their audience. That might sting, and that's okay. That's completely understandable. It might help you to know that that YouTuber, with the giant teeth, might also be jealous of other people, maybe even other bigger YouTubers. YouTubers who had maybe never even mentioned wanting to be an author before and suddenly got this explosive and lucrative book deal. This is probably going to shock you, but the jealous YouTuber I was just referring to just then... It's me. Yeah, I remember when Christine from Polybanana Books announced her massive book deal, I felt a little sting. It hurt a little bit. I had no idea that she even wanted to be an author, albeit I wasn't watching her content religiously, but I did have a moment of feeling really bitter, and I hated it. I felt dirty, like I was a really bad person with this gross little secret, but the more I thought about it, the sillier it seemed. I didn't dislike Christine at all. I didn't want her to fail. Her success didn't impede my ability to succeed. I mean, especially considering we don't even write for the same demographics. Whether you want to say she got her book deal because of her platform or her writing, it doesn't even matter. The truth is that I was just salty that it wasn't me getting the book deal, even though I... even though I didn't even have a finished book at that point. When you make something like writing your hobby or your passion, you are going to doubt yourself, and that's going to happen quite a lot. And when you see someone else succeed, that doubt is going to manifest as jealousy. It doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't make you a bad writer. It just makes you human. What matters is how you deal with that jealousy. Are you going to suck it up and let it actually motivate you so you can succeed as well and get to the same place that person is? Or are you going to stamp your wittle itty bitty feet and try to ruin their day? It's hard sometimes, guy. I know, trust me, I know. It can be really, really hard. But you just have to march on, you know? That's how you make all of the hard work that you've done already worth it. I actually have quite a few more harsh writer truths, but I think I might save that for a part two. It just feels like... It feels like we're going to bum ourselves out a bit too much if we do much more here. Let me know what your thoughts are on any of the stuff that we've discussed so far. I know there's quite a lot there to work with. Like I said, these are just some things I've learned over the years the hard way. And I feel like talking about it in a really chill way is the best way to deal with it. Rather than just keeping it hidden like the photos of you and your ex that you promised your friends you deleted. Hey, thanks for popping in and hanging out with me for a while, guys. It's always a pleasure. Catch ya.