The Essence Of A Writer
June 5, 2008 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing
By Lisa C. Johnson
Simply put, a writer is someone who writes. The definition has nothing to do with money. A professional writer is presumably someone who is paid for his or her writing expertise. The philosophical space between the two has always puzzled me. And from reading all the comments on this blog about how much writing jobs pay, I’m not the only one who has an interest in the topic. But what about the pure joy of writing even when there is no pay?
I’ve always loved to write and have three very distinct writing memories. The first goes back to when I was around six years old. My classroom was rather open and I had climbed up onto an elevated type structure covered with a rug. I remember sitting and happily writing in my journal and the feel of the rug on my leg. I must have been wearing a skirt.
The second may have been around the same time. My parents, my brother, and I visited my aunt and uncle in New York. My uncle gave me a yellow legal pad to write on. I loved the lines and that the paper was really big. My uncle gave me and my brother Sugar Daddy candy.
I used to love those! I often blog about food, so it’s funny looking back and seeing that food and writing have always been inextricably linked in my head. And it was quite prescient that he gave me a legal pad, considering that I ended up becoming an attorney.
The third memory is from high school. My English teacher was the bane of my existence. Little did I know how much I would appreciate him over the years. Oh and I should mention that my father is also an English teacher. Talk about a double dose! Well, I remember that we had an assignment to write several poems. I had never written poetry before, but certainly had enough teenage angst to fuel quite a few. The poems weren’t very good, but I remember feeling an exhilaration and emotional release. Writing made me feel better. Using particular words felt good when I flipped them over in my head and said them out loud.
I’ve learned since then that words also make other people take notice. Words arranged in the right ways make people laugh, and even cry. Words have power. These memories take me back to the essence of why I love writing. Was I a writer back when I was child writing in my journal? Was I a writer when I wrote my first poems?
Many years later, I wrote my first paid freelance book review. It felt like a milestone in my writing because of the payment. But I had always felt like a writer. Why did the money make it legitimate?
Lisa Johnson blogs as “Anali” at Anali’s First Amendment.
There’s nothing more gratifying than to be paid to do something you love. But while getting paid to write is great, I still take pleasure in writing a story, a paragraph, or just a simple phrase that helps me communicate an idea or simply satisfies a creative urge. It helps counter the act of writing about a topic you have little interest or knowledge in (although the research part of this situation is always fun too!).
Thank you so much for this article! It came at a time when I was starting to get discouraged about not being able to find paying gigs. I think I was starting to forget the reason I had decided to try to find the paying jobs in the first place: I love to write.
I know now that I simply need to get back to writing for me and not worry so much about all the rest. It will happen in time.
Beautifully put.
Thanks for the inspiration (and the few wonderful self-reminders).
This is a great reminder of the real reason we do what we do. I think I get more excited when someone is actually engaged by my words than getting a paycheck (but the paycheck is pretty sweet too). But even without that validation, I still love words and that’s what it’s about. I have to keep telling myself that, especially now when I’m trying to build blog traffic for a blog that it feels like no one is reading (stat counters are making me very OCD these days). Anyway, thanks for sharing this, Lisa!
chrissy – Thanks so much for your comment! I agree! The simple pleasure of writing about what we love, even unapid, can definitely give us inspiration to keep on doing what we have to do to pay the bills.
colleen – You’re very welcome! Enjoy writing for you and good luck with all the rest too!
kristen – I’m glad that my words helped inspired you. You made my day!
andrea – I get pretty OCD with my sitemeter too! It’s a bad habit. When I get disappointed with my numbers, or lack thereof, I try to remember that I enjoyed what I wrote.
deb – Thank you so much for letting me do a guest post! I really enjoyed writing this article and the comments are great. This was a wonderful opportunity.
Great article. It made me remember my young days of writing and how I felt like the king of the world because I could put pencil to pad.
Well put
It’s so wonderful to be reminded of those days when writing for fun was all there was to it….
tonya – Thank you so much for your kind words!
bleeding espresso – Thank you too! ; )
Interesting … I was just saying a yesterday how I tend to enjoy those non-paying “jobs” more than the paying ones. Maybe it has something to do about staying true to yourself and writing about what you want to write about.
cherrye – I couldn’t agree with you more!