[Image description: A series of tweets from Twitter user @JennBasel discussing ableist writing advice. The tweets read:
Stewing on some ideas for a post about how so much creativity advice is passively ableist. Because hoo boy, is it.
“Write every day or you’re not a real writer!” is advice that’s been super harmful to me personally. I /can’t./ I only have so many spoons.
“You have to force yourself to put your but [sic] in the chair and write!” is well and good on days I haven’t used all my spoons on basic hygiene.
Some days I have fewer spoons & have to put them toward eating & getting dressed. I’m not less of a writer for not writing on those days.]
[Image description: A series of tweets from Twitter user @JennBasel discussing ableist writing advice. The tweets read:
I really can’t treat writing like a job most days, because even just existing is hard. “Write when you can,” is the policy I work by.
Today I made a to-do list, took one look at it, and nearly panicked because I KNEW it wasn’t doable. I cut everything that wasn’t vital.
tl;dr, don’t act as if “write every day” or “treat writing like a job” are accessible ways to approach being a writer. They’re not.
This thread brought to you by an autistic writer with severe anxiety and chronic fatigue, among many other things.]
I posted screenshots of these tweets on my Tumblr, and almost immediately started getting comments from fellow disabled writers that made me realize just how necessary this sentiment is. Multiple people across Twitter and Tumblr replied with thanks, and with frustration that this same sentiment isn't more common.
It really upset me. As nice as it is to have strung together words that resonated with people, these words shouldn't be so rare that they strike such a chord.
Too many writer communities get hung up on what it takes to be a "real writer." How much do you have to write? How often? How seriously? With what goals? To what end? All of these questions get debated hotly, and the conclusions that get drawn are almost always variations on, "You have to write every day, with the goal of publication, with the intent on making it a lucrative career."
That's a bunch of crap.
Not only is it dismissive and rude to those who write solely for fun, with no desire to make it a career, it's downright cruel to those of us who have tried our damnedest to meet those standards and failed because they are utterly inaccessible. I have broken myself in pursuit of that "real writer" ideal. It sapped my love of the craft, killed my creativity, and made me absolutely miserable.
"Write every day" is hurting people. It's time to acknowledge that, widely and loudly. I shouldn't be one of the only people saying it.
Write in the way that's best for you. Write what you can, when you can. If all you can manage is once every blue moon, you're not somehow "not a writer." You still write. You still have that desire to tell stories and have fun with it. Arbitrary quotas mean nothing, especially when they're imposed by other people.
I'm making this post not necessarily to elaborate on what I said in my tweets, but to keep boosting the message: You aren't less of a writer because you can't write every day. You aren't less of a writer because you can't or don't want to treat writing like a job. You aren't less of a writer because you don't write as much or as often as some other writers do. You don't have to meet someone else's arbitrary standards.
Write in the way that is best for you.
Until next time,
Jenn.
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