Writers, if your pencil was a chisel, people would have more respect for your work.
No one meets a sculptor and says, “A sculptor? Cool! I have a great idea for a sculpture; it’s a life-size Trojan horse, made of marble. I would make it, if I just had more time.”
But as writers, we hear this all the time; people have all sorts of Great Ideas for the next big movie or novel, and amazingly the ONLY thing stopping them is how busy they are. Not a lack of experience, not the fact that they’ve never studied plot or character development, not that they can’t even craft an email that clearly and concisely communicates a message. Just a lack of time.
Because the basic mechanics of writing are within most everyone’s grasp, it’s easy to believe that anyone can do it. Because technically, anyone can. Most of us can type, or put pen to paper, or dictate. But confusing having a grasp of the mechanics with being an expert is like thinking because we can walk, we’re ready to run a marathon.
Fortunately you don’t have to be respected to be a good writer.