#truly a meandering post I’ve made here but that’s just how my brain functions

[hypaalicious]

Silly things I misunderstood in my quest to be a Professional Writer ™️

Dunno why I’m thinking of this today, and idk if it’s my neurodivergency causing the issues or just me being dumb asf in general… but man did I ever get butthurt over unspoken caveats I didn’t peep until after the fact.

For example, when I first finished my manuscript and got it accepted, I wanted to join a writer’s guild. So naturally, I thought of the WGA.

Imagine my shock that authors apparently don’t count as “writers”. I just sat there confused like “I literally write? Why call yourselves a writer’s guild when you do not mean all writers?”

So I found that there’s an author’s guild, and looked to join that… but apparently in order to even qualify you have to basically be a bestseller already. So much for that. 🥴

Another example is when I found a community of Black female indie authors to join and help promote my book. I submitted an application and got ghosted, didn’t understand why… until I noticed that everyone in the group are self-published authors and guessed that was the rub.

Once again, I was left hurt and confused like “I am literally a Black woman who writes and is indie. Your description states that I am the exact type of person to join. But I am apparently not the right kind of Black woman author to be accepted? That kinda sucks.”

I used to try and participate in writing workshops too, especially for unpublished marginalized voices and such, and was told I wasn’t a fit… despite me literally being a marginalized voice who (at the time) had never been published. I get frustrated at the invisible rules that blindside me because I take shit too literally, and then I’m left wondering if there’s any place someone like me actually belongs.

Well. I know where I belong; on Tumblr. 😂😂