Why do people think writing is easy?

Not sure if this belongs here or on the journalism only board, but since I'm referring to fiction, books, screenwriting, etc., I'll put it here.

Seems every time the topic of me carving out my writing career comes up arounds friends and family, the response seems to be, "Oh, that shouldn't be a problem for you. You're such a good writer! You're good at it!"

OK, I understand it's a compliment, but the thought is out there: What we do comes easy for us and its effortless.

I would never think a cardiologist, even the best heart surgeon in the world, has an easy go of it. Why us?

 

People don't see it as a craft. They think it comes easy, I think, because they see so much print in papers and on-line, they assume it can't be that hard to write.

 

It's not hard to write. Anyone with a high school education can do it. Writing well, on the other hand ...

 

OK, smartass, why do people think writing WELL is easy?

 

Exactly.

 

maybe you're hanging with the wrong people. my friends -- who can buy and sell me ten times over -- are very impressed by what i do. not because it's cool that i talk to people they admire, but because i can write well enough to turn out stories about them in no time.

they are impressed that i write well enough to make a living at it, 'cause they can't write crap. it's always come easily to me, but i learned long ago, there is a talent that goes with it that most folks do not have.

 

because he is still employed.

 

Don't you have to turn in 10 tearsheets of your past work before you can say that?

 

A thought - it's easy for people to write, but extremely difficult for a person to articulate sophisticated thoughts and ideas onto paper. Had a friend in junior high who watched me write paper after paper and he said, "I can't do it like you. I think these great things but on paper it's just crap."

 

Ha ha. I agree with Doc, too.

 

Being able to write well, to articulate what you're thinking, is a gift. Not everyone can do it. I've seen people who are very smart in other walks of life whose writing is wooden or lifeless or over or underwritten, and they think it's gold. In fact, there are people in the business like that.
I think people are under the impression it's easy because of the sheer volume of good stuff that's out there in book or magazine form, or through the internet.

 

Because they watched 'Everybody Loves Raymond.'