Real Writers.

[naamah_darling]

This will be long, and for that I apologize. It will be angry and profanity-laden, and for that I will not apologize. I'll also say that you can link to this if you want to, no problem.

In comments to a post by

Comments

[elialshadowpine]

Fucking this, and my I link my writer's comm to this?

[naamah_darling]

Spread this shit far and wide, I'm all for it. >_

[elialshadowpine]

Yay! I shall do so.

This is one of my major complaints. I have fibromyalgia, and mental illnesses. Even before all these things were a factor, I didn't write every day. I would write on average 3-4 days a week, but I would write something like 2-7k, depending. I wrote an 80k novel in 2mo. I hardly think that's slacking, yet there are people that would say I'm not a "real writer" because I didn't write every day.

Plus, the idea of "every day" just doesn't make sense, especially as many of the people who are saying this are also saying to approach writing like a job. Traditional jobs have at least a 2 day weekend. Some have more, depending on the set-up. (My mom worked 7/70 for a long time, which was one week on, one week off.) The idea that writers should always write with no break is just setting up for burnout.

[adelheide]

Testify, my sister!

I've had people (including people who make money at it) tell me I should pursue writing. I would kind of cringe and say, "Well, I don't know if I could make a living at it. I can't write everyday." Because I thought that a "real" writer had to be that driven.

But you make an excellent point and have thoroughly disabused me of that notion. It is very frustrating to have a disability that people can't see and therefore dismiss.

*waves both hands over entire post* This.

[runningnekkid]

You are a solid, passionate and very capable writer. It may be because or despite your mental illness, but ultimately it doesn't even really matter. Writers write. Period. Getting into the nitty gritty of how exactly the writing should be accomplished is the artistic version of mommy wars. And there is not a single writer that has ever lived or who will ever live that 100% of everyone ever will agree is top notch awesome. It just doesn't work that way. Art is subjective and nobody can make grand proclamations about what it and isn't art.

Also, people don't seem to remember how fucking nutso some of our most beloved artists are / were.

So anyway, bullshit on them. Your words consistently draw me in and connect with me emotionally. *That* is writing. That is being a writer.

The. Fucking. End.

[dark_phoenix54]

I have never understood that 'real writer' bit. Who the hell gets to define that? I have always thought there was something terribly smug about that attitude.

As far as erotica being for writers who can't hack it elsewhere, if that were true, there wouldn't be so very many truly awful sex scenes written by 'real writers'

[sargon999]

The problem I have with that attitude is that word "real" because it is, in this context, completely devoid of any meaning. What the hell does it mean? It's the same as statements like "A REAL artist" or "A REAL man" or anything else that invokes that word - it is bullshit. It's just a way for a speaker to disregard anything that does not meet their own, personal bullshit standards, since that can be the only possible meaning of the word, used in that way. If you say "So and so is a SHITTY writer", then that can be argued back and forth. You could say "You aren't a PROFESSIONAL writer unless you write every day" which is also manifest bullshit, and can be disproven quite easily. But that word REAL is entirely subjective and therefore means jack-shit, and anyone who uses it is just being an asshole.