Scalzi on Writing

[cathschaffstump]

My friend Mark lent me John Scalzi’s book of writing essays some time ago, and I just started reading it on the exercise bike this morning. It’s tongue-in-cheek, and it’s sarcastic, but it’s also a solid piece of perspective.

Let me tell you why, if you’re a writer, you should read this.

Many of us base our writing in insecurity. We are, after all, artistic butterflies. Much of what we produce is beautiful, gossamer, and not worldly. Even if you have to work on your craft yet, this may well be how you view your work. We also, as artistic sorts often tend to do, look to find our work in other’s acceptance of us, and compare our success to the success of others.

Scalzi iterates as plainly as any writer I’ve ever seen what I consider to be the core of writing–stop worrying about others. You have your own writing to worry about.

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Originally published at Writer Tamago. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[dracschick.livejournal.com]

thanks for the link. Just wanted to say that I agree with that.