After writing a few pieces recently about the anxieties that come with identifying publicly as a writer, I’m very curious:
Why do you think we say “aspiring” with creative titles we’re nervous to adopt, like “aspiring writer” or “aspiring artist,” when in other professions no one is shy about using the title right away.
For example, no one every says “I’m an aspiring dentist” or “I’m an aspiring banker.”
Personally, I've never called myself an aspiring writer. I think calling anyone an "aspiring" anything comes down to two things in relation to how creative work is viewed. One, most noncreative professions have a linear, work for someone else type path. With being an artist, writer, musician, etc. the paths are endless, so in a way you must decide and see when you've "made it." How that looks is different for everyone. Two, we have been conditioned to contribute success to achievements, popularity and money. If we don't have those things (or something similar) we might feel like we're not good enough. That's where aspiring comes in.
Thanks so much for this -- we're getting deeper into the guts of this now!
Totally agree -- we are definitely conditioned to focus on results rather than our investment in the process. Plus things so often do feel legitimzed by following a plan someone else created or "certified" somehow. If we know how to repeat that, we must be a full-blown writer, not just an aspiring one.
This is such a great question, and one I need to think about a little more deeply. I don’t even use the word ‘aspiring’ to the handful of people in the know, I say I ‘dabble’ or ‘do a bit’ which takes even less ownership. (Both descriptions and accurate reflection of my writing this year but that’s a different conversation). For me I wonder if it isn’t linked to accountability, if I use a dismissive word it’s easier to explain to others, and myself,why there isn’t a whole lot of tangible proof.
This is a great point, Brenda. I think the flexibility implied is really helpful. I also think saying "aspiring" is a good way to set a boundary against people immediately rushing in and asking what you've published.
As I think about it this way, professions like dentistry and banking, the examples I used, don't prompt people to ask what sort of dental work people have produced or how they execute financial transations after learning someone is in these fields. Perhaps creative people use this term as a form of protection, which I completely understand.
Ah, tangible proof. Why is our world so obsessed with this? I often wonder if the drive to ask for proof comes from the need to separate the questioner asking for the proof from the person being asked. As in, if this person who says they're a writer can point to a book to back it up, the person asking them about it can set their own writing dream aside. If no finished book is needed to identify as a writer, then perhaps does this mean the person asking for proof could be one, too? This might be too terrifying for some people to ponder, but then the writer (or aspiring writer) pays the price for the other person's fear. This doesn't feel fair to me, but here we are...
I can see saying "I dabble a bit" working the same way.
So true and is tangible proof more about me than anyone else. In which case I need to reframe my responses to the question I loathe, so what do you do?
(If that's not a rhetorical question...) I tend to run these type of questions through my mind in advance. I am a worrying sort of person, the kind who rehearses conversations. When I imagine being faced with questions that challenge me like "Have you written anything I would have heard of?" or "Who published your book?" etc, I think of ways to answer that empower me, often by joking...
"I'm not sure who you've heard of... as far as I know, I'm not psychic. Do you like books about the writing process?"
or
"I decided I preferred the economics and speed of publishing my nonfiction independently. I worked with an editor and a cover designer and my sales have nearly paid for that investment already. That felt better than waiting several years and not knowing if I'd ever earn more than the advance."
Once I have these replies in my pocket -- I'd probably roll them around in my head a bit longer and cut the second one down -- I feel more confident to go into situations identifying as a writer without the battle armor of aspiring on.
Personally, I've never called myself an aspiring writer. I think calling anyone an "aspiring" anything comes down to two things in relation to how creative work is viewed. One, most noncreative professions have a linear, work for someone else type path. With being an artist, writer, musician, etc. the paths are endless, so in a way you must decide and see when you've "made it." How that looks is different for everyone. Two, we have been conditioned to contribute success to achievements, popularity and money. If we don't have those things (or something similar) we might feel like we're not good enough. That's where aspiring comes in.
Thanks so much for this -- we're getting deeper into the guts of this now!
Totally agree -- we are definitely conditioned to focus on results rather than our investment in the process. Plus things so often do feel legitimzed by following a plan someone else created or "certified" somehow. If we know how to repeat that, we must be a full-blown writer, not just an aspiring one.
This is such a great question, and one I need to think about a little more deeply. I don’t even use the word ‘aspiring’ to the handful of people in the know, I say I ‘dabble’ or ‘do a bit’ which takes even less ownership. (Both descriptions and accurate reflection of my writing this year but that’s a different conversation). For me I wonder if it isn’t linked to accountability, if I use a dismissive word it’s easier to explain to others, and myself,why there isn’t a whole lot of tangible proof.
This is a great point, Brenda. I think the flexibility implied is really helpful. I also think saying "aspiring" is a good way to set a boundary against people immediately rushing in and asking what you've published.
As I think about it this way, professions like dentistry and banking, the examples I used, don't prompt people to ask what sort of dental work people have produced or how they execute financial transations after learning someone is in these fields. Perhaps creative people use this term as a form of protection, which I completely understand.
Ah, tangible proof. Why is our world so obsessed with this? I often wonder if the drive to ask for proof comes from the need to separate the questioner asking for the proof from the person being asked. As in, if this person who says they're a writer can point to a book to back it up, the person asking them about it can set their own writing dream aside. If no finished book is needed to identify as a writer, then perhaps does this mean the person asking for proof could be one, too? This might be too terrifying for some people to ponder, but then the writer (or aspiring writer) pays the price for the other person's fear. This doesn't feel fair to me, but here we are...
I can see saying "I dabble a bit" working the same way.
So true and is tangible proof more about me than anyone else. In which case I need to reframe my responses to the question I loathe, so what do you do?
(If that's not a rhetorical question...) I tend to run these type of questions through my mind in advance. I am a worrying sort of person, the kind who rehearses conversations. When I imagine being faced with questions that challenge me like "Have you written anything I would have heard of?" or "Who published your book?" etc, I think of ways to answer that empower me, often by joking...
"I'm not sure who you've heard of... as far as I know, I'm not psychic. Do you like books about the writing process?"
or
"I decided I preferred the economics and speed of publishing my nonfiction independently. I worked with an editor and a cover designer and my sales have nearly paid for that investment already. That felt better than waiting several years and not knowing if I'd ever earn more than the advance."
Once I have these replies in my pocket -- I'd probably roll them around in my head a bit longer and cut the second one down -- I feel more confident to go into situations identifying as a writer without the battle armor of aspiring on.
Hope that helps?
You way ahead of the curve than me, but yes it does hep and I’m going to give some serious thought as to your intriguing question.
Yay! Do report back on what you discover, if you want. xx