A little rant about "authors"
Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 9:52 pm
Hey everyone - if you don't feel like reading my little gripe, I understand. But I'll try to keep it short anyway.
I'm sick of hearing about celebrities-turned-authors. Madonna, Jay Leno, Billy Crystal, etc. I don't run around saying "Woohoo! I can be a pop star/actress!" and try to do their jobs. They might have had to work hard to make it in their respective careers, but I'm willing to bet that they didn't have to do much to get their little books published (because they're already famous, and just having that name on the book will put it on the bestsellers' lists the day it's released).
What's even more frustrating, though, is when people I know talk about how anybody can be a writer. I'm going, "What? You're kidding, right?" They're not. I don't walk around saying that anybody can do the jobs that these people do everyday. None of the writers that I know personally say things like, "Anybody can be a chef," or "If you can hold a screwdriver, you can be a carpenter." I don't hear comments like that about people who paint, or sculpt, or even sketch, but I hear them all the time about writers. As if all we do is sit around drinking champagne and eating bon-bons while we stare at MS Word, waiting for the muse to visit us.
Strangely enough, when I ask these so-called experts what they've written lately, they say things like, "Oh, I don't have time to write - but if I did, it'd be a bestseller," or "Well, I don't actually write, but I could if I wanted to."
Pfft. The next time I hear anything like that, I'm going to karate-chop somebody.
I'm sick of hearing about celebrities-turned-authors. Madonna, Jay Leno, Billy Crystal, etc. I don't run around saying "Woohoo! I can be a pop star/actress!" and try to do their jobs. They might have had to work hard to make it in their respective careers, but I'm willing to bet that they didn't have to do much to get their little books published (because they're already famous, and just having that name on the book will put it on the bestsellers' lists the day it's released).
What's even more frustrating, though, is when people I know talk about how anybody can be a writer. I'm going, "What? You're kidding, right?" They're not. I don't walk around saying that anybody can do the jobs that these people do everyday. None of the writers that I know personally say things like, "Anybody can be a chef," or "If you can hold a screwdriver, you can be a carpenter." I don't hear comments like that about people who paint, or sculpt, or even sketch, but I hear them all the time about writers. As if all we do is sit around drinking champagne and eating bon-bons while we stare at MS Word, waiting for the muse to visit us.
Strangely enough, when I ask these so-called experts what they've written lately, they say things like, "Oh, I don't have time to write - but if I did, it'd be a bestseller," or "Well, I don't actually write, but I could if I wanted to."
Pfft. The next time I hear anything like that, I'm going to karate-chop somebody.
LJ 
