Pride is a marvelous virtue, and a deadly vice.
I'm not even inside a year writing professionally and I've already suffering from the best and worst parts of Pride.
I haven't made a single dollar doing what I do yet.
None of my works have escaped the editing process yet.
I don't even feel comfortable telling people I'm a writer when asked what I do.
Even so, I get mildly peeved when someone marginalizes or trivializes what I've decided to do. I don't think people mean to mock what I've probably trained my whole life to do, in one fashion or another. It happens sometimes when I tell someone what I do. They sometimes respond with the intention to write their own book, like it would be an easy affair, taken care of in a single afternoon.
One writing workshop taken at the U of I over a summer while I was still in Elementary School set me on the path. It is a road I've walked ever since. I've overcome a lot to be able to do what I do, more than some, less than others. Irrelevant ultimately.
Just because someone can drive a car, doesn't mean they'd be a rising star with NASCAR. Because someone knows how to use a computer, doesn't mean they could provide IT for a large corporate entity. Likewise, just because someone writes every day, doesn't mean they could pen the great American Novel.
I don't care if people like or respect me. I just hope I can bring a sort of reverence to my chosen profession.
great opening line, very true. I think you definitely deserve some virtuous pride just for the fact that you have written a book and only 1% of the population can say that, regardless of it being published or not. I equally respect anyone who creates, whether they show it to anyone else or not, because the whole process of art makes them better people than if they spent that time watching television or surfing the internet. I think it is almost mathematically certain that many of the best works of art were never known to any but their creators, or were destroyed as soon as they were produced, or languish still in obscurity. Still, I think you should make your books available online so that any who want to read them are able to.
ReplyDeleteThanks Micah.. I agree with you totally. There is so much undiscovered, lost, and obscure the world will likely never see in this life. Even of the readily available works, there is only so much a person can consume in their life time. I'm grateful to everyone who has and will take the time to look at what I create.
ReplyDeleteA lot of my stuff will fall under a Creative Commons license and be downloadable from my website this year. There is only one line of books I'm writing that will land under a standard all rights reserved copyright. Everything in moderation.
I was initially hesitant to talk with people about your current employment until I saw how serious you are about it. Many individuals in your situation would sit at home and play video games and screw around. I have observed the last few months that you take your endeavor seriously; work comes before play and you are more 'present' in what you do than most I have seen.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, when people ask me how you are doing, I am very proud to relate your circumstances and what you are doing. I think most wish they had the guts to pursue their passion.
The act of telling a story, fictional or otherwise, is ancient and begins with oral histories and traditions I suspect. The means to extend those traditions beyond the spoken word drove people to write things down. It is an elemental part of civilization and the perpetuation of it.
ReplyDeleteI think that everyone close to me, sitting outside what I do, would hesitate to comment. There is so much of what I've written since September 2009 that no one has ever seen. Things I wrote to prepare, embolden, and define what I would eventually create for consumption. To say my own writing process is arcane falls terribly short of speaking the truth. I had hoped this blog would provide my loved ones a measure of transparency into what I've been doing.
Where my blog didn't succeed, it obviously failed.
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ReplyDeleteYou have my respect and support.
ReplyDelete