Yesterday’s post was one where I surprised myself through writing. That’s generally a good thing. We know that writing can help clear our heads, but sometimes it’s good to get the proof. Particularly when we’re discovering something along the way.
What is a writer anyway? Someone who devotes a lot of time to writing, I suppose. Perhaps someone who gets published. Still, there is a level of expectation about the word that a) it’s about getting paid for it, making it your job and b) that it’s serious, or worthy – or maybe just something that gets you the right kind of attention.
There are plenty of people who write for a living, where what they do is partly about how well they handle words, but we have different terminology for their jobs. Journalist. Copywriter. Academic. Researcher. These days, we probably have to add in blogger, and I’m sure there would be others.
But there is a cachet to being a writer. It’s why there are literary festivals. Book readings. Book signings. Author tours. That kind of thing. With the best writers, we fall in love with them at least a little when we read what they have to say. As a result, they are no longer allowed to remain in their garrets – they have to meet the public, press the flesh, and so on.
Luckily, these days, it’s not just the fiction writers that get invited to the festivals. There’s a range of writing styles and subjects on display. It’s not just about the novel – it’s a lot broader. I may not actually go to the festivals, but I read the programmes, and do a bit of name checking, and maybe even read a couple of authors’ websites along the way.
So why is it so hard to call oneself a writer? To poke your head above the parapet? Even as I write those words, I know – because going public with your writing means allowing for criticism. And that’s probably what I’m hiding from. Writing is then not just about wrapping yourself up in words, or rolling them out to enjoy how they fit together – it’s about whether others think it’s good enough.
Maybe I’ll retreat a little for now from that internal debate. I also like the term wordsmith. It’s not new, but it says something of craft, of labouring, of heating things in the fire and seeing them changed into something wholly new. And I do know that it takes a lot of craft before the art shows through.