Tuesday, May 09, 2006

"If I Can Dissuade You From Becoming a Writer, Then You Never Should Have Thought About Becoming a Writer"

"I'm of the perhaps unpopular opinion that anyone who can be dissuaded from writing, should be dissuaded from writing."

4 comments so far. What are your thoughts?

Perpetual Beginner said...

Meh. While the difficulties shouldn't be glossed over, I see no reason to think that writing talent is always going to coincide with bull-headed, iron-skinned persistence. I.e. I don't think the good writer to horrible writer ratio is going to change any by discouraging everybody possible.

As for myself, the only question is how hard will I try to be published. I'll be writing no matter what.

Emily said...

I'm irritated by that quote, because ... it's okay for writing to just be a hobby, something fun. You don't have to dedicate yourself to it body and soul. You probably won't get good, or published, that way, but it's as legitimate as any other hobby.

Jennifer said...

Hmmm.. I wonder if refrain is why my PhD supervisor tried to persuade me against doing a PhD in the first place.

David Moles said...

One man's "perhaps unpopular" is another man's "flogged to death".