"I think the key to writing is, uh... sitting your ass down and starting to tippity-tap on the goddamn board." -Bob Odenkirk, 2022
Love this post. I don't call myself a writer because it feels presumptuous, considering my average rate of output. But my life is happier if I sit down at least a few times a week and write. It's just a good place for my mind to be.
I think writing, as something one does, informs one's identity - I think there's no way it can't, if you're putting time into it. The things we do with our time, to some degree, make us who we are. But there's a danger in putting the identity-cart before the spending-your-time horse. Better to write and observe the kind of person you become as a result than to announce your intent to become a certain kind of person and try to write your way into it.
Yeah, I don't call myself a writer. Maybe I would if it was my actual job, but it's really just a very time-consuming hobby that I keep doing that most people don't care even a little bit about.
If it ever does become my job, I'll also probably find it kind of embarrassing and just tell people that I'm in publishing to avoid having to talk about what I write about.
I love “putting the identity-cart before the spending-your-time horse”! Both my kids write, but while my son had cranked out a 600-page novel by age 21 (he’s trying to find an agent, but it’s really tough) and is working on a second, my daughter gets these terrific ideas, writes a few pages, and then stops. I may mention your expression to her!
As someone who also writes, I loved this essay! (And I’m commenting several days after you published not because I was ignoring you but because I was out of town.) Thanks for putting so well my own thoughts about the ambivalent feelings we writers have about our avocation/job/hobby/compulsion.
Your argument about class in writing is so smart and convincing, and the John Scalzi example supports your point better than you might know. I went to college with John, and he grew up very, very poor. He has always been prolific and completely not tortured about his writing. He wrote a column for our college paper that was always funny and smart, and he became the paper’s editor his senior year. I have always admired his no-nonsense approach to enjoyment in writing: his books are well-plotted and funny, but they also have a point--a point that likely reaches orders of magnitude more readers than that of literary writing.
Anyway, I enjoyed this piece--and bonus points for using the word “grooming” in its original, apolitical sense!
Did not know that about John Scalzi! I may have to finally give him a try.
But, yes, I very strongly believe in this idea about class with regard to how people view art. There's a sort of indoctrinating aspect with how we're trained to evaluate art. Something this is even at odds with the goals of the artist.
Those "writing is the worst part of being a writer" types are legitimately the worst writers and most obnoxious people on the planet, so I think it makes sense.
"I think the key to writing is, uh... sitting your ass down and starting to tippity-tap on the goddamn board." -Bob Odenkirk, 2022
Love this post. I don't call myself a writer because it feels presumptuous, considering my average rate of output. But my life is happier if I sit down at least a few times a week and write. It's just a good place for my mind to be.
I think writing, as something one does, informs one's identity - I think there's no way it can't, if you're putting time into it. The things we do with our time, to some degree, make us who we are. But there's a danger in putting the identity-cart before the spending-your-time horse. Better to write and observe the kind of person you become as a result than to announce your intent to become a certain kind of person and try to write your way into it.
Yeah, I don't call myself a writer. Maybe I would if it was my actual job, but it's really just a very time-consuming hobby that I keep doing that most people don't care even a little bit about.
If it ever does become my job, I'll also probably find it kind of embarrassing and just tell people that I'm in publishing to avoid having to talk about what I write about.
I love “putting the identity-cart before the spending-your-time horse”! Both my kids write, but while my son had cranked out a 600-page novel by age 21 (he’s trying to find an agent, but it’s really tough) and is working on a second, my daughter gets these terrific ideas, writes a few pages, and then stops. I may mention your expression to her!
As someone who also writes, I loved this essay! (And I’m commenting several days after you published not because I was ignoring you but because I was out of town.) Thanks for putting so well my own thoughts about the ambivalent feelings we writers have about our avocation/job/hobby/compulsion.
Your argument about class in writing is so smart and convincing, and the John Scalzi example supports your point better than you might know. I went to college with John, and he grew up very, very poor. He has always been prolific and completely not tortured about his writing. He wrote a column for our college paper that was always funny and smart, and he became the paper’s editor his senior year. I have always admired his no-nonsense approach to enjoyment in writing: his books are well-plotted and funny, but they also have a point--a point that likely reaches orders of magnitude more readers than that of literary writing.
Anyway, I enjoyed this piece--and bonus points for using the word “grooming” in its original, apolitical sense!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Did not know that about John Scalzi! I may have to finally give him a try.
But, yes, I very strongly believe in this idea about class with regard to how people view art. There's a sort of indoctrinating aspect with how we're trained to evaluate art. Something this is even at odds with the goals of the artist.
I love this. Probably because I feel/echo a lot of it, and sometimes I just can't have it with the "we hate to write lolz" crowd.
Those "writing is the worst part of being a writer" types are legitimately the worst writers and most obnoxious people on the planet, so I think it makes sense.