Telling People I'm a Writer
Telling people I'm a writer is like telling them I'm an astronaut.
"When did you go to the moon?" They ask. They are the silent jury that Atticus Fitch argues to.
“I shall be brief, but I would like to use my remaining time with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one, it requires no minute sifting of complicated facts."- Atticus Fitch
And yet the white jury convicts Tom Robinson. Why? Prejudice. They knew their truth long before stepping into the jury box. No argument Atticus Fitch could have made would have changed their opinion. That's what it's like to be a writer. Society already has its definition. Society needs you to fit into their view——their schema. And yet, writer's are like the myriad of snowflakes in winter: no two are alike.
So, according to society, who qualifies? Generally, there are two basic requirements:
- Have to have published a book to some acclaim (Hugo award, nebula, etc).
- Never forget rule number one.
In Huckleberry Finn, early on in the novel, when Huck wants to smoke and widow Douglass doesn't let him because she looks down on it from a religious pedestal, it strikes Huck as hypocrisy to condemn something with half-baked knowledge on the subject.
“That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it.” - Huckleberry Finn
To society, whether it's Asian cultures, wester beliefs, or anywhere in between, there are a set respectable jobs that ought to be pursued. In Indian culture for instance, doctors are placed at the apex of Maslow's Hierarchy——to study medicine is to pursue enlightenment and be on the road to self-actualization. Engineers and lawyers would probably be a level below at esteem. So, if you're an engineer you literally come from a legacy of people who built the world: esteem accomplished. And if you're a lawyer, well, who can fault you for upholding the rule of law and fighting for social causes you believe in? Now, take a wild guess as to where society places writers——sorry, would be writers because if you're that 1% of the population that's successful, you're an outlier. According to society, 99% of us would probably still be at level two, trying to find financial safety and therefore unreliable as lovers, friends, or business associates.
In the west, society upholds the cherished principle of follow your calling and you'll make it. But what if my calling is as a plumber? Since I'll definitely make it, will I earn respect from my peers for cleaning out their sewage gunk? In other words, it's called being two faced.
I'm not saying that society should embrace every niche crazy idea people come up with (even if I was, society wouldn't change), no, what I'm saying is either educate yourself, or stop talking.
Writers are by nature, introverts. While some people prefer to drink away their problems and others, talk them away, we follow the much more arduous path of being alone with our problems and solving them through self-reflection and writing. That is to say, we might not be the most outspoken bunch, but we're brave in our own way.
The World of Stem
For those of you who found you're calling in STEM, good that. But for those of us who would rather pursue the humanities and liberal arts, it's more complicated. In America, despite the emphasis on perusing one's passion, the pressure of STEM is clear in every part of society. From one's own home, where parents, in their fear, steer a child towards the tried-and-true path, to school, where the Calculus textbook is heralded as the holy grail and the science journal the Bible——this tunnel vision, ironically, often hinders students from performing at their full potential rather than boosting them. How will we steer the future if we don't learn from the past?
Robert Kiyosaki, self-raised millionaire, and author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, explained that children are far more likely to pursue those fields to which they have been exposed. Suppose both your parents are accountants, it's significantly more likely you'll find yourself in the accounting field. It's the same logic that applied to friends. If your two best friends are obese, you have a 50-80% chance of becoming obese yourself: the people around us influence our behavior whether we are conscious of it or not.
Surrounding myself with people on the same mission is well and good. The only problem is that, as a young writer, it's hard to find people who share the same interests. In the world of STEM, reading——reading & writing for pleasure——is like spotting a real UFO: an impossibility.
Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” - Pablo Picasso
But maybe solitude is part of being a writer. If the backbone of STEM is collaboration, maybe the secret sauce for writing is solitude.
Choose Kind
Wonder by R.J Palacio, years later, remains one of my favorite books. It's not so much about the quality of writing (it's YA Fiction), or the plot, Wonder is important to me because of my emotional connection with the protagonist, August Pullman. While I may not walk around with a facial deformity, people react the same way when I tell them I'm a writer——that weird mixture of pity and competitive interest.
I think the reason people react so viscerally is rooted in their own insecurity about their professions. It takes great courage to admit one isn't following the mob. So, when you tell someone you're a writer, you're immediately compared.
It's very likely that the reacting person has their own non-conforming ideas about what they'd like to do with their life. Yet they have some fixed mindset that they will fail if they try. So, to see your success would be at odds with that schema. And that's why they resort to rule #1.
In other words, they're afraid of your success.
Writers, choose bravery. Everyone else, choose kind. -Author Anonymous
Thanks for reading today's post. Although it's a little different from what I usually write, thanks for reading my pep-talk. As always, if you've enjoyed this, hit that subscribe button to get semi-weekly rants!
