There are many experts who LOVE to give us advice as to how to begin our writing careers. But the important thing to remember is this is OUR writing lives. And we have to live through our writing. So, if we aren’t true to ourselves and write about what we want, we will be betraying ourselves. Creativity is a deeply personal affair. No one can do it for us and no one should dictate what we write about. We have to do this by ourselves and we have to determine what our passion is on our own. And as I said in one of my blogs last week, it is important that we don’t restrict ourselves in the beginning. Are you writing about what YOUR COACH wants you to write about? Are you restricting your writing because your coach or mentor told you to choose ONE genre of writing and stick to it in the beginning? If you answered ‘yes’ to both of these questions, you are not leading your own writing life but you are living your mentor’s idea of what she wants for you. And this is betraying yourself. It is permissible for your coach to give you ideas as to what will make you most successful as a writer. This is usually what your coach is paid for. But you don’t deserve to be forced not to be true to your own writing because your coach tells you that you should pursue a path that you aren’t passionate about. You need to decide FOR YOURSELF WHAT THAT PATH WILL BE. Writers are hard working individuals. Most of us work at our desks a good three to five hours a day. Isn’t it important for us to be writing in the genre that we want? Isn’t it important that we lead OUR OWN WRITING LIFE? I think you know my answers to these questions. ~ Happy writing fellow writers. ~ Irene