[Writer Post] Defining”Pro”, Wheaton’s Law, and Lisa Morton
So there wasn’t much response to the Writer 101 series – so that’s something I’ll hold off on. But as I seem to get responses from some of my recent rants – here we go. It helps that it is related to writing – and it’s a point in favor “Wheaton’s Law”.
On Monday I ran across a link to a post written by Brian Keene. Keene is an established award-winning genre writer in horror, crime fiction, and comics. Though I don’t recall actually having met him personally, we have friends and colleagues in common.
His post referenced an article by Lisa Morton for the HWA LA website. Keene posted a link to the article and gave his readers a chance to go read it first and then come back. I’ll do that to. Go ahead and read it – here – and then come back. I’ll wait
[whistles Jeopardy theme]
Are you back? Is your head intact? Mine wasn’t. Because, seriously,who is she to tell anyone in this industry what is and isn’t a professional? And by no real measurable criteria. As much as I disagree with some aspects of SFWA and other organizations and their definitions of “professional’ they are definable, statistical, and objective. These are…insane and subjective and condescending.
In Morton’s article, it seems she’s saying if you don’t spend every living, breathing, waking, sleeping moment thinking, talking, and committing writing you’re not a professional writer. Not if you sell an “X” amount to certain type of publisher. Not if you’re getting PAID to write. Not even my favorite statistic from TCU political science professor, Jim Riddlesperger which was “You’re a professional writer if you 1) GET PAID or 2) 200 rejection slips-whichever comes first.” (For the record – I do believe I have BOTH of those criteria met.)
No… according to Lisa Morton, I don’t think anyone can claim to be a professional writer. I can answer “yes” to more than some folks to her asinine questions – but with qualifications. Here are my answers…
1. Is your home/work place messy because that time you’d put into cleaning it is better spent writing?
I wish I could say YES to this. I really could. Sometimes writing – deadlines and such – keep me from cleaning, but generally my house is CLEANER when I should be writing because it’s a “Squirrel” thing.
2. Do you routinely turn down evenings out with friends because you need to be home writing instead?
No. Except where deadlines are concerned. And once when I HAD a deadline, I was actively swing dancing, I took the book with me and worked on it when I needed a breather. My friends and family are more important to me than any career.
3. Do you turn off the television in order to write?
No. This is NOT a fair question. I have to have noise. Something going on in the background to tune out. And the company. I lived on my own for a long time before meeting my husband and sometimes the television was the only voices (besides the ones in my head I heard).
4. Would you rather receive useful criticism than praise?
Loaded question. Yes, useful criticism is important – especially in the writing and editing stage, but praise is important as well. If you don’t get some positive feedback then you’re not going to keep writing. No one wants their work to go into black holes.
5. Do you plan vacations around writing opportunites (either research or networking potential)?
Okay, this one is the qualified “YES”. BUT…only because my employment history has been such that the only “vacation” I can take these days are to conventions. I haven’t accumulated the four weeks of PTO that my husband has for being at his job for as long as he has. SOMEDAY I want to take a honest-to-goodness VACATION.
6. Would you rather be chatting about the business of writing with another writer than exchanging small talk with a good friend?
Absolutely not. How boring would that be? I talk about writing A LOT with people but I also talk about dogs and families and hobbies and all that stuff Morton complains about. Because you know why? Because it’s interesting. Because it’s relationship building. Because nobody wants to talk shop 24/7. Without hobbies and interests and other things in our lives, our writing would suffer.
7. Have you ever taken a day job that paid less money because it would give you more time/energy/material to write?
Not on purpose. I take the jobs I can get in order to not live in a box while I write. And by having a job that paid decently took away the fear of living in a box that kept me from writing. Because I don’t know about anyone else, but when I’m stressed about money? That’s when I’m the LEAST creative and productive because it’s hard to write without electricity and heat.
8. Are you willing to give up the nice home you know you could have if you devoted that time you spend writing to a more lucrative career?
This is the ‘splody brain question. What does it even mean? Um again, making a decent living is not an indictment against commitment to writing. Again, if I’m worried about my security or the electricity being turned off, I’m not going to be writing. And if you saw all my weird collection of jobs just to make sure I had a roof and food and still had time to write – you’d be just as offended by this question as I am.
9. Have you done all these things for at least five years?
I’ve been published for 10 years now, but that doesn’t seem to matter in these questions.
10. Are you willing to live knowing that you will likely never meet your ambitions, but you hold to those ambitions nonetheless?
Okay, I don’t even understand this question. I guess I could say YES. I mean I’ve always dreamt of winning an Academy Award for the script I wrote based on the book I wrote. Will that ever happen? Who knows. Will I keep writing? Absolutely, because it’s my life. My career even if all those other questions don’t make it seem like it.
According to this set of questions not only am *I* not a professional writer. No one I know is a “professional” writer. We’re ALL hobbyists. All of us because we all have lives outside of writing. We have families. We have pets and – most of us – jobs so we can EAT while we publish.
So, thank you Lisa Morton, for putting another nail in my hobbyist coffin for responding to YOU on my blog instead of working on the two projects I need to be working on. But hey, part of my JOB as a modern writer is to be active on social media and blogs to build an audience, and I am – because I’m a professional.
1 Comment
I think you are spot on! If someone else defines things differently, then it’s their lexicon to defend. You have clarity of vision and purpose and your post demonstrates this wonderfully 🙂