Writers are People Too
First, lemme talk about how I've gotten quite a bit (for me) of writing done in this past week. I've been working on finishing a long-delayed short story while the next new scene in Book 2 percolates. (It's one of those dark, gritty kind of scenes that requires mental preparation lest it (a) wig me out too much, or (b) come off as melodramatic and silly. I prefer the wigging, certainly, but I have to kind of sidle up to it so I'm ready to be wigged.)
Anyway, over at Miss Snark, a writer had a nitwit question, and here in the comments, some folks got very, erm, high and mighty.
Look, kids, we all know that playing computer games instead of writing is Bad. I, myself, have a terrible time cracking down to putting words on the page instead of sending my Celtic hordes out to rustle sheep and build castles guarding all the fords. I mostly avoid buying computer games, and I periodically take the CD-ROMs I do have to my safety deposit box and leave them there for a while.
But when I read things such as "Here's a list of things I've given up to write novels: PS2, computer games of all sorts, movies, books, family, friends, housecleaning", I get annoyed.
Yes, a writer should put the writing ahead of the game-playing. But writing is not some holy calling. A writer who starves and lives in a garrett and does nothing but write is broken. That is just as obsessive and fucked-up as the person who plays computer games all day (or all night).
Yes, a writer must write, or they aren't a writer. But "being a writer" shouldn't be some sort of mental disease. If the urge to write is that all-consuming, I suggest that what you really need is a psychiatrist, not a keyboard.
The professional writers I know have other interests. Their other interests are often regarded as related to their writing, sure, but that's called "multi-tasking." A smart writer always has non-writer friends to talk to, and at least one hobby that doesn't require more writing.
Anyway, over at Miss Snark, a writer had a nitwit question, and here in the comments, some folks got very, erm, high and mighty.
Look, kids, we all know that playing computer games instead of writing is Bad. I, myself, have a terrible time cracking down to putting words on the page instead of sending my Celtic hordes out to rustle sheep and build castles guarding all the fords. I mostly avoid buying computer games, and I periodically take the CD-ROMs I do have to my safety deposit box and leave them there for a while.
But when I read things such as "Here's a list of things I've given up to write novels: PS2, computer games of all sorts, movies, books, family, friends, housecleaning", I get annoyed.
Yes, a writer should put the writing ahead of the game-playing. But writing is not some holy calling. A writer who starves and lives in a garrett and does nothing but write is broken. That is just as obsessive and fucked-up as the person who plays computer games all day (or all night).
Yes, a writer must write, or they aren't a writer. But "being a writer" shouldn't be some sort of mental disease. If the urge to write is that all-consuming, I suggest that what you really need is a psychiatrist, not a keyboard.
The professional writers I know have other interests. Their other interests are often regarded as related to their writing, sure, but that's called "multi-tasking." A smart writer always has non-writer friends to talk to, and at least one hobby that doesn't require more writing.