From Medium:
For most of my twenties, I jumped from one dream to the next. But through it all, I secretly wanted to be a writer. I watched friends bridge the gap between amateur and professional, and I wished I could be them.
Because I was envious of my friends’ writing success, I would try whatever it was they were doing that I thought made them successful. But the problem was I didn’t know what I was doing.
One writer I knew had a satire blog, so I tried writing satire. It didn’t work out; I just came off sounding mean. Another wrote about popular events from a faith-based perspective, so I tried that. That also failed. In fact, I made just about every possible rookie mistake.
What was I missing?
Turns out, I was still acting the amateur, thinking success as a writer was about finding the right idea or a big break. But the truth is that success in any field is more about commitment to a process than it is about finding one magic trick that will make it all come together.
. . . .
2. Amateurs want to arrive. Pros want to get better.
You have to become a student long before you get to be a master.
“We are all apprentices in a craft no one masters,” Hemingway once said. In words, you have to submit yourself to the teaching of those who have gone before you. You have to study their work and emulate their techniques until you begin to find a style of your own.
For the longest time, I just wanted to be recognized for my genius. It wasn’t until I started putting myself around teachers and around the teaching of true masters that I realized how little I knew and how much I still had to grow as a writer.
Hemingway did this, too — it wasn’t until he spent a few years at the feet of Gertrude Stein and Sherwood Anderson in Paris that he grew from a good writer into a masterful one.
If you don’t do this, you delude yourself into thinking you’re better than you really are, which is the fastest route to failure and anonymity.
Link to the rest at Medium
I think the author of this article completely misinterpreted Hemingway’s quote. Basically, Hemingway was making the point that no one ever becomes a “master”. There is no such thing as perfection in any craft. Most artists continue to refine their abilities until the day they die, and are rarely – if ever – satisfied with their creations. Those who do stop perfecting usually also stop creating, because they feel they’ve reached the plateau they wanted to. It’s extremely rare to find any artist who genuinely believes they’ve mastered their craft. (And those are usually filled with enough hubris to choke a muster of peacocks.)
This one works for me … 7. Amateurs want to be noticed. Pros want to be remembered.
A+ WIddershins
I hate to complain (as usual), but I always subtract 50% of the grade for an article when someone uses the word “creative” as a noun to mean “very special people who create very special art.” You’d think as writers, they’d know that this meaning just graduated recently from “substandard” to “informal” in the dictionaries and would avoid using it. And you might think if anyone had anything to say worth listening to, s/he would further know everyone is creative and writers don’t get a special gold star no on else can possibly earn. That kind of elitism contained in that word just tears my … patience. (Though I love the Urban Dictionary definition of “[a] creative” as a noun: “What teachers call you when they don’t want to say you are a dumb***.” — now that’s a good definition.)
Also, Grisham did not invent the legal thriller. As to “Amateurs want to be noticed. Pros want to be remembered.” I’m a professional, and I’d like to get paid. Notice, remember, legacy, fame/obscurity, who gives a crap about any of that? I have bills I need to pay every month.
I haven’t read the whole thing yet (the comments here are often more interesting), but I will note that I hear “creative” used as a noun in business a fair bit – if the author spent enough time in the corporate world, he might have managed “creatives” or worked with “creatives” enough that the usage doesn’t strike him as odd. I haven’t heard it every place I’ve worked, but more than one.
Truly, Lou, that article was full of so much fail, it should get a wiki for it.
My teachers always said I was creative, not that I was “a” creative. They also said I was smart, but so far most of my life isn’t bearing that out. snort
“Creative” as a noun is in broad use in the Marketing world. If you’re a photographer, illustrator, designer, artist, writer, etc., you’re a Creative. I have no problem being called that. Especially by a Suit.
Sigh. Read to the end and find this:
Yeah, the “you can be a professional writer” in less than two years kind of ran against the whole argument of the piece.
The more I know, the more I know I don’t know.
Dan
I have been a professional writer for many years now (since 12/12/12), even though I only have one book out, and am one of the slowest pros on the planet.
I think it’s a matter of commitment. It’s the only thing I want to be.
I’m delighted to be an amateur, and quite happy to learn from others. Is there some reason to think this willingness is limited to people who tell each other they are the very models of the modern book professional?
Yep. The more I write, the more I learn how little I know.
And, with the market changing as fast as it does, staying in one place just means falling behind.
I feel that way each and every time I start a new book. Judging by what my writer friends say, it’s a pretty common feeling.