Warning: This is a rant.
I saw something that pissed me off the other day. How much did it piss me off?
It pissed me off so bad that it has pierced through the barrier of a 2-year long writer’s block and compelled me to write a blog post on my baldheaded blog.
It was writing advice.
I think.
Dear reader, I will not do you the disservice of telling you what the advice was, only that it was delivered by someone who purports themselves to be an authority on what it means to be a writer despite of having no written work of their own to speak of.
I’m not saying people who haven’t written books cannot critique books. If you read a book and you think it sucks, by all means, rap your review to the Ether beat if you must. This is not one of those rants that one might go on because someone gave their book 1 star.
If you read books, you know what you like and what you don’t like, and you’re well within your right to critique the writing of a book you just read. Good or bad. Have at it.
What I’m saying is…if you’ve never sat with yourself in a room with nothing but your own imagination and a blank canvas, you don’t get to tell anyone what it means to be a writer. You’re not a writer. How do you know what it means?
Amazon says I’ve published 13 books. If I’m being hard on myself, I’ll say my number is actually 6. Even with 6 books under my belt, I could never work up the insolence to say something like, “You’re not a writer if…” to anyone who writes. In private, I might tell you if I think your writing needs work if you ask for my opinion. However, I would never tell you that you’re not a writer if you have—in fact—written something. I don’t have the audacity.
If you admire countless paintings from afar, does that mean you understand the technique needed for creating depth? Shadowing? Color theory? Having never touched a paintbrush—would you tell a painter what paints they should buy? On what authority?
By all means—critique the paintings. You’re free to do that. “This painting was bad! 1 star.” “This painting was well executed, but it was not my cup of tea. 3 stars.” “This painting was great. 5 stars.”
What you can’t do, after having looked at the painting, is tell the painter that they’re not a real painter.
What you can’t do, after having admired paintings by expert painters, is tell a beginner painter that they’re not a painter.
What you can’t do, after having marveled at fast painters, is tell a slow painter that they’re not a painter.
What you can’t do, after creating your own arbritary parameters for what it means to be a legitimate painter, is tell a painter who doesn’t meet your criteria, that they’re not legitimate painters.
Why? Because you’re not a fucking painter.
Respectfully, you just look at paintings.