Hi, my name's Ben Gillman. And I'm a writer.

"Hi, my name's Ben, and I'm a writer."

It seems like such a simple statement, right? Especially if you breeze through this website, you'll see a fairly good-sized body of work (and I haven't put anywhere near everything on here). I've got an IMDB page. I've had things produced and performed. You can buy my books on Amazon. I've made a decent amount of money off of my writing.

And yet here's the truth:

Despite the fact that I've written over a dozen screenplays (some of which have won multiple awards), and I've written five full length novels (with several more in the works), and I've written one full length play and at least a half dozen short ones, and I've written literally hundreds, if not thousands, of comedic sketches and shorts-

I still sometimes hesitate to call myself a writer.

I get nervous. I feel like a fraud. I don't feel worthy.

And it's time to get over it.

The fact of it is, though, being a writer is the one thing I've been thinking about for nearly my entire life. I'm okay at sports. I'm a really good actor. Any job I've ever done, I've always risen to the top and brought great value to my team. Yet I keep coming back to writing. I'm always thinking of new ideas, I'm always planning a new book, I'm constantly drafting new scenes for my latest script.

I'm a writer. It's a fact. And I gotta own it.

That's what I want to do primarily with this blog. I want to chronicle my writer's journey from someone who shies away from admitting my passion to someone who takes myself seriously as a professional and an artist. My biggest challenges have been treating myself as a business that truly has a spectacular worth. And that's going to end now.

Over the next months and years, I'm going to explore all of the avenues out there to market my work, so that I can grow and flourish. I'm going to test out different social media and dig into tricks of the trade. I'm going to venture out of my comfort zone (even though just typing that makes me nervous...). And I'm going to share any insights with anyone who might be willing to read it.

Sometimes I'll be commenting and sharing technical stuff that I learned (cough *stole* cough) from someone else. 

Sometimes it'll be more like I'm journalling and trying to pump myself up.

I suspect there's many other people out there who are like me who struggle with their self-worth (despite being pretty freaking awesome), and think that it's CRAZY to presume to dare to imagine that we could be writers. 

Well, we're not crazy. And we're totally worth it.

So I'm going to take my first steps, and fight against that twist in my gut and that nagging voice at the back of my head, and I'm gonna to keep working to proclaim my truth:

My name's Ben, and I'm a damn good writer.