"Becoming" a "writer"

I know the title sounds pretentious, even more so because of the quotation marks. Can you picture my fingers hooking into the air? The most difficult part of becoming a writer seems to be learning how not to sound pretentious. My tendency for vulgarity helps me some, but I still find myself in those moments where I'm searching for the word path that brings me back down to the real level of the plebeian.

Probably my least favorite thing about becoming a writer is figuring out how to work around reading aloud with that stereotypical softened tone. Another stereotype of becoming a writer is the "I write for myself" phase, which I think every "becoming" writer goes through at some point. Writing brings a certain vulnerability with it. At first, I hid in the vulnerability, but as I learned to confront the fake-assedness of writing for myself, I felt (and continue to feel) a lot more positive about where mywriting might go from here.

My favorite thing about becoming a writer is the actual act of writing, which I should engage in much more often than I do. I should be reading and writing for an hour each each day.* Instead, I don't. I read a few days a week, and write a few days a month. I'm scheduled for three workshops this fall. I'm hoping that will help me gain the discipline I need to work full-time at becoming a writer.

* I know this sentence could've been worded differently, but I don't care. When I read, I love coming across sentences with identical word couplets. Even though the author has planned them, they still seem such rarities to me. I'm probably seeing the positive in something often considered a drawback in writing. Sometimes, I just find confusing wording interesting. Perhaps it is that that which is just is.