Writers are People that Stop and Start

In the cold reality of things, what we perceive in one way usually results in disappointment. This applies to writers, and the way they’re portrayed by mass media, and art itself. In movies, books – in most and any medium of art, writers are often portrayed in a bittersweet manner. They don’t have enough money to eat, they’ve lost the love of their life, they’re renting a room in a down-and-out hotel, but they’re working towards their epic; their work that will be celebrated after their death, the work that will be turned into a Hollywood movie, a television series, an audiobook – their saving grace, both financially, and psychologically. This may be true for a select few cases, but in the wider spectrum, writers do not adhere to this portrayal. It is
completely, and utterly different.
In reality, a writer often struggles to find time
to write, for only a select amount of writers can
substantially live from the gains of their book.
Instead, in contrast to popular opinion, they are
subscribed to a 9-5 (or something extremely
similar) in order to live; in order to write. They
don’t fumble around the gardens of the house
everyday ‘looking for inspiration’ on their next
New York Times Bestseller. They’re removing
unmovable amounts of cheese from the bottom
of the grill at the local fast food restaurant,
they’re creating spreadsheets for the daily
office meeting at 9am, and they’re selling used
cars for prices for more than they’re truly
worth. Writers are commonplace people.
Writers are people that stop and start. End and
begin. Begin and end. The clichéd yet true
crippling self doubt is a factor that most
writers stumble upon at the first hurdle. Most
give up before they’ve even begun. The doubt
doesn’t miraculously leave once writing your
first collection, or first book. It is something
that builds, and builds, and builds up, until it
forces you to spiral downwards. This isn’t
unique or attractive; it is just a part of the
wave that has to be ridden. After and only
after this, is when writers may find a moment
of solace. For this reason, a writer is in some
regards, a sadist.
A writer is a person who carries another world
inside their head. A writer is a person who has
to defend their work from the arguments of
themselves on a continual basis. A writer is a
person who has to defend their work from the
arguments of others, even more so than the
arguments of themselves. A writer is a person
who isn’t just a writer; they are also an editor,
a publisher, a mathematician, a philosopher, a
businessperson, a mother/father, a son/
daughter, an auntie/uncle, a cousin, a beloved, a
worker, a grafter, a drifter, a worshipper, a
believer, a liar, an afterthought. A person has
to play all these roles with upmost desire to
become one and only thing; a writer.
Tagged Art, Writers, Writing
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http://thoughtcatalog.com/thom-james/2014/01/writers-are-people-that-stop-and-start/