I still can't find your point. Orwell made judgment errors. What does that have to do with why or why not he shouldn't have been a good writer? Eco's writing is "informed by a wider life"; what writer doesn't have a wider life?
And what do either of those things say about my point, which is that writing is both difficult and not remunerative? And that writing is harder than talking, and isn't necessarily done well by everyone who is good at something else?
There is no dichotomy between being a writer and doing other things, nor is there some exalted status of writerdom. It is a craft and for some a calling. What someone does for money may or may not require writing as a skill.
There's a joke about an old bluesman who won the state lottery. On being asked what he would do with the money, he said "I'm just fixin' to play the blues until I'm poor again." Almost anyone who has the writing bug would love to do it full-time. Only those who are both talented and fortunate get that chance.
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Re: oh shit
Date: 2006-10-17 06:14 pm (UTC)And what do either of those things say about my point, which is that writing is both difficult and not remunerative? And that writing is harder than talking, and isn't necessarily done well by everyone who is good at something else?
There is no dichotomy between being a writer and doing other things, nor is there some exalted status of writerdom. It is a craft and for some a calling. What someone does for money may or may not require writing as a skill.
There's a joke about an old bluesman who won the state lottery. On being asked what he would do with the money, he said "I'm just fixin' to play the blues until I'm poor again." Almost anyone who has the writing bug would love to do it full-time. Only those who are both talented and fortunate get that chance.