Writing: Blessing or Curse?

I know people who are writers, and I know people who *want* to be writers. The distinguishing characteristic in my mind is the quality of bitching between the two groups.

People who *want* to be writers complain that they can't get inspired. They're "blocked," they can't figure out what to write, they have a great first sentence or setting or ending but they can't do anything with it. They write endless blog entries complaining that they don't have time to write. I met one person who, in her late 20s, thought that she'd start writing "as a way to make some quick money." Her plan was to sell a few articles to Reader's Digest "because they'll take anything," before moving on to "real" writing. It seems sometimes like a lot of people who want to be writers want that because they don't believe that it takes any special skill or talent.

People who *are* writers tend to complain about the things they have to do that take time away from writing. They seem to always be spinning off ideas and trying things out and writing up outlines and sketches and scenes and characters. They've always got something lurking at the back of their minds, tucked away for a time when it's needed.

I think that's part of what attracts people to writers and writing - they see people with a lot mentally going on, people whose imaginations are teeming with stories and plots and worlds, and they want to be that. They want to have access to that kind of imagination and the ability to live more than one reality at a time.

I guess I can't blame them. To be able to look at anything that is and know a thousand things that might be is to be blessed.