Right now I'm a short ways away from finishing my first run-through of edits on the latest Writing Marathon anthology. One interesting thing about these anthologies is the variety of writers who contribute - some who're professionally published writers, some who are just now dipping their toes in, and everything in between.
Another interesting thing is the number of people whose writing reflects a desire to articulate the purpose of the act itself. It's almost as if people feel the need to define writing before they can say they are a writer themself.
Makes me wonder - how necessary is it to define writing for yourself? How necessary to define it before you do it?
1 comment:
I think in a lot of these cases, they are trying to convince themselves that it is okay to do something creative. They are trying to give themselves permission. As I was granted permission by Stephen King in his book On Writing, I have never felt the need to say "I am a writer" any more than I felt the need to say "I am a human"--some things just are and you have to accept it at some point. Some of this writing about writing is moving toward that acceptance bit...and some, unfortunately, are just fascinated by writers that they want to 'be' writers, but aren't. Is that cruel? Yes, but I think it's true too. So I guess I'm a cruel human/writer.
Post a Comment