Writing is a worthwhile activity. It allows you to put across yourself with just the eloquence of your pen. It is, in itself, an expression of one’s own personality. When you read a piece of work, you have a sneak peek of the kind of character the writer has. His thoughts are shown in his words, with utter reverence to the rules of grammar and rhetoric. These rules are stiff, especially for creative writers who have always been unmindful of their seeming flaws because what they are after is self-expression.
However, it is a different story when you are writing for a living. It compels you to tear down your creative side and shove the new approach down your throat. It is a painful process, especially when you are not accustomed to it. But you don’t have much choice. You have to let go of your own self and embrace the norm.
That is business. And that is what every writer must understand. When you write for someone, you have to give up a portion of yourself. You are no longer writing for the sake of writing. You do that for a living, and your outputs now have an even bigger role aside from mere entertainment or self-expression. They are now tools to educate and to make money.
Your failure to meet what is required is detrimental to business, so you have to double your efforts. Yes, the transformation doesn’t happen overnight. For some it would take days, even months to fully adapt to the new style and approach. But that shouldn’t be a problem.
When you are passionate about something, you keep on challenging and improving yourself no matter what. You just take in everything; corrections and criticisms that are meant to make you an effective writer. Even if it takes a while, you have to keep a positive spirit and believe that sooner or later, when you have mastered the trick, you’ll be over and above your old self. That is because you don’t compete with anybody, you compete against yourself. So there will always be a part of you winning, and a part losing.
Creative writing is precious, but when important circumstances call for its demise, you won’t have much choice.
