Friday, June 8, 2007

Writers who whine

A lot of writers like to whine about how hard it is to write, the most recent example of which is in this article from the New York Observer: My Book Deal Ruined My Life.

One writer is quoted as saying,

At one point...the writing was so miserable, “I thought about getting into painting houses or digging ditches, doing anything other than writing—making watches or something like that.”

Oh, please. Try bagging groceries or baling hay or emptying bedpans every day and then tell me that writers have a hard life. Yeah, I struggle with getting the right words on the page, and I complain to my husband, and sometimes things conspire to make it impossible to meet deadlines, and it can be a lonely life. But I can't think of anything else I'd rather do.

They should all go read Garrison Keillor's Salon article, "Writers, quit whining." And then take a deep breath, and thank their lucky stars. Or find another profession.

2 comments:

PJ Hoover said...

Right on! Stop the whining!

Anonymous said...

What I think is interesting about some of the "whining" is that several of the people who said they struggled with loneliness, etc., had quit their jobs or gone away to writer's colonies to have "time to write." Good reminders that probably the sanest way to write is just to do in it in the middle of everything else going on in your life. Cuz even if you get that miracle of "time only for writing" (as I did on my sabbatical last year), that doesn't necessarily mean the words come pouring out. You have to make do with what you have.

PS I hadn't seen the Keillor piece before, so thanks for the link. Awesome!