“Aspiring” Writers Take Note

…Chuck Wendig has a bone to pick with you.

Anything that comes out of the delightfully filthy Wendig mouth is worth listening to, whether you write for fun or money (or both, please God). His ebooks on writing make you want to pick up a pen and wield it like a sword. (If swords weren’t a little…you know. You know.)

Anyway, I catch up with Chuck’s blog, Terrible Minds, now and then when I need a good kick in the writerly ass.

And the other day, he delivered. Hoo boy, did he deliver.

“No More Aspiring, Dingbats
Here are the two states in which you may exist: person who writes, or person who does not. If you write: you are a writer. If you do not write: you are not. Aspiring is a meaningless null state that romanticizes Not Writing. It’s as ludicrous as saying, “I aspire to pick up that piece of paper that fell on the floor.” Either pick it up or don’t. I don’t want to hear about how your diaper’s full. Take it off or stop talking about it.”

So begins his list of 25 Things I Want to Say to So-Called “Aspiring” Writers.

Coddling, it’s not.

Motivating? Oh hell yeah.