Why I Use the Title of Writer with Pride

Lately I have been reading several articles on being a writer and the embarrassed feeling people get when they own the title of “Writer”. I have never paid much attention to the public perception of a writer and truly find it strange that someone with such a creative mind can be dismissed as easily as a musician. I mean people like that are usually called flakes because we as a society have made it so very difficult to have jobs in the field of being creative. We gravitate towards work in construction, business or education as the paying jobs. Why are artists not as gainfully employed? Maybe it is just that where talents lie I always see direction when it comes to artistic people like myself.

 

I mean here I sit now with my day totally organized, my new career path as a personal trainer mapping out a little more every day, dinner cooking, dance gear organized, laundry done and in comfy clothes to sit and writer for a few minutes. It is almost a guilty pleasure to be able to spill out the words onto the screen and let it a fall where it may. And I suppose for most artists it is that way as art can never be called work. It is just not able to qualify. It is fun to create art, it is fun to be and artist and draw characters and then write about them. As a musician telling a story set to music and using poetry to balance the two that marry so well together is just not work.

 

Please understand I am not putting down artists I just think they have the best job in the world and feel very fortunate to be part of the creative and artistically strange and misunderstood segment of the population. I guess at this point I could bring up compensation for the jobs of being an artist. For the most part it is little to nothing. I know nothing as I have never been paid for writing and for my other artistic skills I have received very little in the way of finances. That goes for most of us. There is a passion that drives artists and it is not money. Some of the richest artists in the world are not great artists what they are, are masters at hiring the right person to mass market them and hitting a niche market that spends money on the fame. Not always the best, and sometimes the best are hidden away and never seen by the public. Can you imagine if the world was full of artists only? How dull it would become to be a human being on this planet.

Diversity speaks loudly when it comes to artists. The genre is diverse and within each genre is more and more to focus on. Sometimes as an artist it is difficult to find what it is you with to focus on and you want to do everything as most artists are very talented in many ways and can touch on several genres at a time. Be careful not spread yourself too thin. But to call myself a writer I do not feel like a flake. I happen to like flakes, especially snowflakes. And I do not feel that we should shy away from calling ourselves what we are. We are writers and we should be proud. Yes it is a comfy job when it pays and we get to live in our pj’s if we choose. So why are we frowned upon? Using the mind to help create play for others is not wrong, but glorious and entertaining.

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