#18: This one goes out to the word wranglers and grammar gurus: Put your writer pants on, please
Writers have a hard time owning the title of their craft.
If you write, competently or professionally or as a practice, you’re a writer.
If you engage in the process of writing, be it a book, blog, short story or journal entry; you're a writer.
So why does the word ‘writer’ stir so much discomfort and vulnerability in those who do the damn thing?
Why does it sit like a heavy coat on your shoulders making you hot, bothered - and strangely inflamed - around the neck? (you probably should get that checked out)
Is it that to prove you are one, writers feel the need to show their skill upfront, aka. flex, by ‘re-writing the title’ as it were?
Oh you creative word slinger, you.
Is it possible that calling yourself a word wrangler, copy cowboy, or inflated variation thereof, is actually just showing-off styled as self-effacing artisté?
Does the server at your local deli call himself a ‘sandwich stylist?’
Does it make you take your sandwich eating more seriously or want to put your reuben on rye in a box frame for all to ogle at his marvellous creation? Not likely.
You don’t see actual artists calling themselves ‘paintbrush wielder’, ‘canvas coaxer’ or ‘mural magician’. That would just be weird - and I would not be convinced of their expertise, I might add!
Get out from under the damned spot of your own ambiguity and call your spade a spade. Especially if you spend a lot of time shovelling. Words, that is.
Lastly, and always helpful when dealing with that special writerly kind of imposter syndrome:
To be the noun, do the verb.
That's how you put your writer pants on.
That’s all there is to it.
Read this on Twitter and join the conversation!
Thanks for reading.
Please subscribe if you’d like Wordstrings in your inbox.