"You should be a Writer."
Um...
It's difficult for me to express why the label disturbs me so much. I've always enjoyed tossing out absurd blurbs that may amuse people or make them think but the whole 'Writer with a capital W' bit leaves me cold.
I used to think it was the pressure but I think really that it's been ruined for me by too many pretentious people. In the past ten years I have met many, many people who write. Some are absolutely brilliant, some are absolutely not but most fall somewhere in the middle. All have something to offer but nothing makes me want to walk away faster than when they take themselves too seriously. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about the folks I know who really have talent. I'm talking about the peeps who speak as if their recipe column in the local paper makes them the next Hemingway.
"I'm a *sniff* Writer."
Yep. You and everybody else, dude.
To be fair, I feel the same way about the word Artist with a capital A. My high school Art teacher is still disappointed in me. I know because I run into her a couple times a year.
"Are you creating any art?" Always asked in a hopeful tone.
Um...last week I was doodling stick figure pigs for Evie. She seemed to really enjoy them.
I think another part of it is that I don't feel compelled to reinvent the wheel. There is no shortage of great material out there so I feel as if much of it has already been said and done. Do I have something to say about any given topic? Odds are someone with far more talent than myself has already so I can say,"Hey. See this? You should read this. I agree with it." Yes, I will be happy to add accounts of my experience to a collective but it's generally more a way of saying 'you are not alone' than 'look at me writing all this writey stuff for the sake of writing writey stuff'.
I love my Writer friends and I love my Artist friends but they're just not labels I feel apply to me.
I won't get mad, however, if you call me a Mother. I rock that shit.
Before I got to the "Artist" part of your post, I was gonna say "and I feel the same way about *Artist* too". :D It's the snobbery that some seem to carry with them that turns me off from the whole idea. And those who want to identify a person by one thing only. As if we're *that* and only that . I used to paint pictures all the time, and I don't any more. I can get creative in just dealing with every day life, but for some reason people don't see that as " using my talent". I can't think of a more rewarding and useful way of using one's creative talents than being a Mother. There's a new challenge every day. It's a lifetime commitment, and I don't believe, personally, that any other occupation can top it.
ReplyDeleteWhen Charlotte was little I was artsing all the time but it was still largely Motherhood related. Among other things I used to paint Disney characters on her clothes. lol I just don't feel the need to do artsy stuff anymore. If I have time to myself I would much rather spend it reading internet crap or watching bad TV shows.
DeleteWriter, Writer, Writer!
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