Tuesday 17 February 2009

So...You Can Write Can You?

This post is prompted by a conversation over at Helen's Blog.

Now, it's true that many people, when confronted with the fact you're a writer, will say THEY too CAN write, or SHOULD write, or WOULD write...but...and the conversation over at Helen's Blog is going to be really funny and witty.

But what I find, is that people always want you to spell out (metaphorically speaking) what you've written. I don't know about you, but I hate doing that! I can never explain it properly in words, to non-writers, or even writers if I'm honest. Gawd, I'll have to improve if I'm ever going to pitch at some stage. It always ends up sounding so lame (to my ears) and I forget what the heck I've written and why.

Then you get the IDEAS person, who can't wait for you to finish your ramblings so they can tell you their much BETTER idea.

No wonder I tend not to tell people I write, because they keep asking you how you're doing..nothing published yet?...or...how long have you been writing?...when you tell them a number of years, they gasp and can't understand how you haven't MADE it yet...Grrr.

The worst experience for me was with the woman who runs the local Post Office. I handed over a M.S to be posted and she looked at the address, asked me what I'd written, then what else I'd written and told me I'd probably end up as successful as J.K. I mean, this from a woman who hasn't read any of my stuff...unless she sneaked a look-see. But how can I live up to her expectations???

6 comments:

  1. I also hate to talk about my WIP - but I'm happy to shout from the roof tops about any tiny success (they are very few and far between).

    :-)

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  2. Suzanne, they all count, whether many or few, and they can then be built upon!

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  3. I know exactly what you mean. People who don't write think it must be sooooo easy to get published - and they don't have the tiniest idea how hard it is.

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  4. Interesting topic Higgs. Like you I don't like to mention my little hobby (wink) but when it is mentioned I always feel like a fraud. I've never thought of myself as a writer or a poet.

    And yet, oddly, on my last Lancs course the tutor referred to us as 'apprentice writers'. I didn't like that either, I felt a bit insulted. There's just no pleasing me obviously.

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  5. Ha! Mel, I feel like a fraud most of the time, too. Apprentice...hmmm...I suppose we're all apprentices, possibly learning for ever.

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