The Complete Guide to Becoming A Poet, Lyricist and Creative Writer

Chapter 1: What Does a Poet, Lyricist and Creative Writer Actually Do?

Let's get one thing out of the way immediately: as a poet, lyricist, or creative writer, you will not spend eight hours a day in a state of divine inspiration, watching words pour onto the page while the world fades away. That happens sometimes, but it is not the job. The job is most often about sitting in a chair, managing your own focus, and producing work that might someday be read by a handful of people, or, if you're lucky, by millions. It's a profession with a production schedule, a business side, and a relentless amount of what feels like quiet, unglamorous admin work.

So what does a poet, lyricist, or creative writer actually do during a given workday? Let's split that into the three main activities that fill your hours: writing and drafting, editing and revising, and hunting for work. Then we'll talk about where you do this and the tools that make it possible.

The Core Work: Drafting, Editing, and the Slog of Revision

The most obvious task is writing. The American Bureau of Labor Statistics lumps writers and authors together, but a working poet or creative writer today is generally producing one of a few things: poems for a manuscript, lyrics for a musical act or a commercial project, or pieces of fiction and creative non-fiction for publication. The output varies wildly, but a consistent measure is the word count. A typical creative non-fiction