Monday, February 3, 2014

Be a Writer

“Be a writer,” they say.

As if it were that easy.

You can’t be a writer—you either are one or you aren’t. It isn’t some career decision with a cut-and-dry path to success like being a lawyer or a doctor. There’s no exam you take that officially qualifies you to have a job in the field. No fancy degrees in writing can be earned and hung on the wall as signifiers of your qualification.

“Oh, you went to Harvard? How nice for you. Now prove to me that you know anything. Do you have a blog? Well, that doesn’t make you special. Wait, don’t blog about me.”

As I’ve begun the hunt for internships, I’ve noticed that recruiters don’t really care about anything except writing samples. Now, this is unfortunate for me because I don’t really have “writing samples.” 

But I promise, editors, I’m a decent writer. Won’t you just take my well-constructed, grammatically correct plea as evidence?

“No.”

I’m beginning to think that I may have wasted my first two years in college with menial internships where I didn’t get to really explore my true passion. I regret to think that I took the easy way out. 

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