I’m going to be honest here, about snobbery. Admit it, we all have some sort of snobbery. I’m going to talk about writing snobbery.
I’m NOT talking about genre snobbery — to be honest, I write romance and erotica, so as far as a lot of “writers” are concerned, I’m pretty much at the bottom of the barrel. I don’t agree with that assessment, mind you, but I understand that’s the way it is. And am I going to scream and fuss and protest? Umm…nah, that’s not much my style. Because, you see — *beckons you closer* — I don’t care. I don’t care if some literary author thinks I write shite. I don’t care if some mystery author, or some best selling mainstream author thinks romance is crap and erotica is porn. I don’t CARE what they think because I know better. And you know what? I don’t need to diss someone else in order build myself up, so to those who write “high-brow” and “classy” “literature,” I say, good for you. Someone’s gotta. I’ll just keep writing what I like, thanks very much.
So I’m not talking about genre snobbery. But I will admit to other sorts of writing snobbery. Book length, for example. I regulary write several 100K word novels per year, in addition to shorter pieces. A four hundred, one hundred thousand word novel tends to be my personal — if not “comfort” level, at least my current production level. I’ve written shorter books and I’ve written longer (good lord!) but overall, 100K is right around where I like to be.
When I see or hear writers complaining about not being able to get word count, or running out of ideas, or getting blocked, well, I’ll admit to snobbery there, too. Hey, I write Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays, pretty much all day long and sometimes at night, too. I write occasionally on weekends, but not always. And I produce. I write quite a bit because that’s my JOB, so I have to. This means I’ve given up a lot of stuff I like to do, like playing the Sims 2 and other games, watching a lot of tv, and generally being lazy.
There are people who blow me out of the water, this is true. I don’t “work” as often as I used to because hey, I don’t have to. With both kids in school now, writing is my full time job, and I budget my time and workload so it mirrors a “real” job.
I’m lucky enough to be able to do it.
But before my kids went to school, I wrote around them. I spent even less time doing other stuff. And no, I didn’t have another job, so I do fully sympathize with those writers who parent, work a non-writing job and still try to write. I really do. (Though I always thought of my writing as a job even before I started getting paid the uber bucks. Oh, wait…I’m still waiting to be paid the uber bucks. Never mind.)
Anyway, I suffer from writing snobbery because I figure if I can do it, so can you. If I can put books out there, so can you. I mean, c’mon, I fart around a lot and procrastinate (blogging, for example!) but I still put my butt in the chair and get the words on the screen.
If I can do it, so can you.
And I’m just snobby enough to tell you so.
M
April 30th, 2007 at 10:55 pm · Link
So, you’re saying I should be writing right now instead of watching Return of the Jedi and your RT video? Interesting theory. That would explain why I haven’t made word count today. But I think I’m still hungover. Surely that counts for something?
May 1st, 2007 at 10:35 am · Link
GET BACK TO WORK!
*cracks whip*