I think Hemmingway screwed us all.
I think perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of being a writer is all the people that you meet who also think they are writers. I am reading a book on gaining confidence in my writing right now, (the book is also full of quite wonderful little writing excercises as well) and I find myself amused at a few of the ideas proposed on the psychological side of writing. It talks of eliminating shame from your writing, and about how when people ask you what you do, to respond with saying, "I'm a writer," even if you haven't written anything. It talks about how shameful a good bout of writer's block can be and all of that stuff. But what it fails to address is how to tell if you're really a writer, or just someone who wants to say they are one and live the lifestyle of the typical writer, a lifestyle that often rivals that of the modern day philosophy major, ie. the college of, "Would you like fries with that?"
There is no quicker way in today's society to fake genuine intellectualism than to say "I'm a writer." People assume that if you're proud enough to admit you're a writer than you must be good. I knew a guy when I was in college who was a bit of an intellectual whore. Often when in a room with this person, his smugness felt palpable to the skin, much like humidity. He would do almost anything to get people to believe he was very smart. Maybe he was, but when he began to pass himself off as a poet, pontificator, philopher and playwright, without having much success in any of those things... just being able to alliterate the qualities that you wish you had does not a writer make. My nephew can use p a lot too. He uses it when he writes in the snow like other boys. It doesn't make him a writer any more than the alliterational idiot of my college days.
See, I've been meeting a lot of "writers." People who go out late, drink a lot, and then come home and have a bit of brilliance that spews on to paper, and for this 45 minute typing fest, they consider themselves a bonafide genuine "writer." I think Hemmingway screwed us all. People think that the writer's lifestyle is liquor, torred affairs and the ever popular tragic death. People fail to realize that where writers are concerned, there is a Baskin-Robbins worth of choices when it comes to personalities. Writers need not be either reclusive hermits, or outgoing party socialites. They need not necessairly have torrid affairs or syphallis. They also need not have 2 cats. I have no syphallis and a dog, and I do just fine.
I've decided that if this is the shroud of being a "writer," then maybe I don't want to be a writer. I think I just want to write. See that's the funny thing to me. All of these sterotypes and yet not a single thought about what it is to be a "writer," actually involves writing. Drinking, whoring, cats, std's, depression, reclousion, and yet... no writing. Damn you Hemmingway.
There is no quicker way in today's society to fake genuine intellectualism than to say "I'm a writer." People assume that if you're proud enough to admit you're a writer than you must be good. I knew a guy when I was in college who was a bit of an intellectual whore. Often when in a room with this person, his smugness felt palpable to the skin, much like humidity. He would do almost anything to get people to believe he was very smart. Maybe he was, but when he began to pass himself off as a poet, pontificator, philopher and playwright, without having much success in any of those things... just being able to alliterate the qualities that you wish you had does not a writer make. My nephew can use p a lot too. He uses it when he writes in the snow like other boys. It doesn't make him a writer any more than the alliterational idiot of my college days.
See, I've been meeting a lot of "writers." People who go out late, drink a lot, and then come home and have a bit of brilliance that spews on to paper, and for this 45 minute typing fest, they consider themselves a bonafide genuine "writer." I think Hemmingway screwed us all. People think that the writer's lifestyle is liquor, torred affairs and the ever popular tragic death. People fail to realize that where writers are concerned, there is a Baskin-Robbins worth of choices when it comes to personalities. Writers need not be either reclusive hermits, or outgoing party socialites. They need not necessairly have torrid affairs or syphallis. They also need not have 2 cats. I have no syphallis and a dog, and I do just fine.
I've decided that if this is the shroud of being a "writer," then maybe I don't want to be a writer. I think I just want to write. See that's the funny thing to me. All of these sterotypes and yet not a single thought about what it is to be a "writer," actually involves writing. Drinking, whoring, cats, std's, depression, reclousion, and yet... no writing. Damn you Hemmingway.