Advice on becoming a writer

Years ago when I first began to dream about becoming a writer, I went to a one day writer's seminar. The main speaker was a well-known author, but after many years I can't remember his name. He said three things about becoming an author that have stuck with me for the forty years I've pursued my dream.

1. You have to wish to be an author. For me this means the dreams I had since I was a child and the stories I tried to write and seldom completed but I kept dreaming even while I pursued other goals, like becoming a nurse and being a mother.

2. You have to want to be an author. To me this means more than just the wish. This means reading other authors, reading books about how to write and most of all sending one's writings into the world. This can be hard because there is the rejection and leads to the third piece of advice.

3. You have to need to be an author. I remember him saying rejections shouldn't matter. You have to keep writing and sending things to editors. This piece of advide was about persistence and about obsession. Persistence is a writer's best friend and obsession is what drives the dream. So it all comes to a circle.