I am not a writer
65
Oh, to be a writer
I am not a writer. I wish that I were, but I am not. I am just a person who recently discovered that I love to write. Unfortunately for me, writing requires a level of education, intelligence, and imagination that I am woefully lacking. To write, in my mind, is to paint upon the page glorious pictures to stir the imagination, and drive the mind to thought, and contemplation. It takes an artist....Let me explain.
Many years ago, I called myself a musician. I sang, and played guitar in a band. We traveled around performing in clubs and small concert halls, and we were paid for our performances. I guess many people would consider someone like that to be a musician, but they would be wrong.
One day, or rather I should say evening, I attended a reunion of sorts, where I ran into several high school buddies that I hadn't seen in years. It was ten years out of high school, and many of the people attending the reunion had become quite successful.
Anyway, as I was talking to a few of these long ago friends I was asked what I did for a living, and I answered proudly, that I was a musician. "Oh really?" one of the long ago friends asked, "Where did you go to school...where did you get your degree?"
"I...I...don't have a degree," I stammered, totally surprised by such a question. I went from prideful to mortified in one second flat. The three old school buddies laughed out loud at my answer, slapped each other on the backs, and sneered joyfully (much to my astonishment). Then each one in turn, with their own version of the same idea said, "Well, you can't really call yourself a musician now, can you." Then, I guess, considering me useless and unworthy of their attention, they abandoned me. To say I was angry is an understatement, I was madder than hell and seeing red. How dare they, I thought.
.
Later, I found myself arguing with one of the three long ago friends about what they had said to me. "To call yourself a musician," he said," is quite presumptuous, and an insult to people who have gone to school and studied for that profession." He went on to explain that, "if you replace a light bulb, or rewire a lamp, it doesn't make you an electrician. If you un-clog a drain, or replace a washer in a faucet, it doesn't make you a plumber." And continuing he said, "if you perform CPR on a person, it doesn't make you a doctor. Likewise," he said, " just because you can sing a little, and string some notes together on the guitar, doesn't make you a musician."
I left the reunion that night, embarrassed, and humbled, and no longer referred to myself as a musician. Now years later I've discovered that I like to write. I know I suck at it, but I enjoy writing anyway, just for fun. So don't worry, I won't make the presumption of referring to myself as a writer and insult, or diminish the great profession that writing is. You see, I know that just because someone can string some words together doesn't make that person a writer, anyone can do that. What it takes is a good education, a good imagination, and the intelligence to know how to use them. It takes an artist to add the nuances within the brush strokes, and shadings to create fine writing.
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Comments
In fact, the best musicians never went to music school!
And the best writing comes not with a college degree but when it's straight from the heart!
Write on, Percy!
Ummm ... you put words together very well. In addition, they are correctly spelled, and your use of punctuation is excellent. (And boy, is that a rare combination!)
You definitely have a storytelling gift, one that is expressed well by writing. In short, you write like a writer and love writing like a writer ... you must be a writer!
To my knowledge, the only careers that absolutely require a degree are the licensed professions. Classical music normally requires a great deal of formal training. Even so, a Mozart or two has been known to sneak onto that lofty field. No other kind of music that I know of requires any sort of formal credential at all.
Nor does writing.
Your friends were ... not friendly, to put it mildly. If I can make up my own story about them, it would go something like this:
... These people had gone through years of schooling and at the end, were unsatisfied with their choices. Your satisfaction was an unpleasant reminder that their lives could have been happier. Instead of using that reminder to improve their own lives, they dumped on you ...
Now, that was all just a story. Fiction. But I know this plot does play out in real life. I've lived through some of its variations. There are other plots with the same outcome; in every one of them, the false friends are equally wrong.
Please keep writing -- and playing!
(I don't have a degree, either.)
You ARE a writer. No question about it. There are many accomplished, best selling, award winning authors who don't have a degree. I hope you'll start calling yourself a writer. And a musician too. :)
I agree with what everyone said above, you are a writer! Also, your former classmates sound like jerks if they sneered because you did not have a degree. People love to tear others down to make themselves feel better, but do not allow them to do that. Stand tall and proud, and always remember you have many qualities as a writer and a musician that those jokers never will possess. I call myself an artist even though I did not major in this medium in college, the classes were incredibly biased, and one thing I have come to learn is that the world's best artists were self-trained. Go back to school and get a degree in music if you want to do that for you, but do not let these individuals steal your self-esteem and tell you what you are and what you are not. Very inspiring hub!
I never went to school to be a carpenter, but I am one. I didn't go to school to learn how to play music either, but I am a bass player and musician.
Music is in the soul of the musician. Rhythm and timing cannot be taught like it is when it comes from the soul and heart. You are a musician, not matter what anyone else says or thinks.
You are a writer, because you wrote this hub about not being a writer.
What a bunch of schmucks. While I agree to a certain extent that not everyone who calls themselves an artist or musician truly qualifies for that label, I would say that being in a band that regularly plays shows defintiely earns one the right to call oneself a musician. Like Kagal said, some of the best musicians never attended a university, and your "friends" were ridiculous in implying that that should be a requirement for any label. I guess under that limitation Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards aren't musicians either. And I must say, based on your grasp of grammar and ability to tell a compelling story, you look like a writer to me.
You are the BEST kind of writer in that you say what you are feeling and you make others feel. That is what a writer does. Please keep writing!!
Pardon my French, but what a complete and utter bullsh*t! For one, what about autodidacts? There are professions for which a specialized education is required. You can’t practice law or medicine without the proper degree. But many, many other professions don’t have such a requirement and there are plenty of people who have become outstanding in these professions without having the ‘proper’ education. Hell, there are even professions for which a formal education doesn’t even exist. Second, it’s all about perception. If your audience enjoys what you sing or write and enjoys the way you do that, then you in fact are a good singer or writer. With or without the education. Self-made is not bad, not bad at all. And after reading this hub, I can only say: you are a writer.
School is a post John Locke capitalist invention to perpetuate learning to those who don't give a damn. If the schools actually cared about your learning, it would be free. It's just another way to legitimize your existence as a "human being" , making you more 'competent' than the next dumb ass.
AKA, college is for those who need to have something to feel validated about
All I can say is, YOU GOT IT GOING ON!
Like me and many of the responses on your BLOG, I am sure this article has "touched the heart" of many others. And if it inspired them, as it has inspired me, "OH MY GOD".
Here is what I did after reading your blog: http://www.your-inner-voice.com/Writing.html kEEp up "the great work".
I grew up in a small, but rapidly growing community. The new arrivals to our town were mostly middle and upper middle class folks. I however, was raised in a poor, working class family (although I didn’t really think I was poor). Anyway, I found myself surrounded by overachieving middle, and upper middle class kids. Perhaps you can imagine what it was like for me, my friends, and their families lived so differently than mine. They wanted for very little, and I envied them. Since there weren’t very many kids with a similar background as mine, and since I wanted friends I was willing to sacrifice my self esteem and my education to be accepted by these kids. I was the butt of their jokes, and I used self deprecating humor to endear myself to them. I was the token dummy, the poor child of a janitor. Now, as I look back, I realize that they weren’t as well off as I thought they were. Their parents, in many cases, had set the bar so exasperatingly high that it was almost beyond their ability to succeed. I feel sorry for them now, and others like them that are driven to impossible goals by parents, and others outside themselves. They weren’t allowed to, and didn’t allow themselves to explore their imagination, and express their creativity. Deep down inside myself I know I am a writer, I am a musician, and I am an artist. Although it most likely won’t put money in my pocket, or bring me fame (I don’t think I would want fame anyway), but what it does do is satisfies my soul. I’m very happy to see so many people respond to this hub with a positive attitude toward us folk that attended the school of hard knocks. Thanks everybody for the great comments.
Hmm...I agree with most others above...just let me write a quote from memory (may not be 100% correct but roughly): "Nowadays people go to school to learn music and how to play guitar...we used to try to avoid school just to play music instead." - Gary Moore
Education is good...intelligence is great...one doesn't necessarily come from the other...and neither does experience which is one of the best things...that only comes from doing something...
moonlake says:
16 months ago
I enjoyed your hub but I have to disagree there are many musician, plumbers, builders, and writters that never went to school.
I enjoy doing hub pages it relaxes me but I can't write and I can't spell. I'm going to do them anyway.
You have a very unkind group of friends.