To Be A Noun, You Must Verb
I've long noticed something about many aspiring writers, and I guess it is no different about any other vocation where one tries to succeed. I'll bet you've noticed it as well. A Tweet here. A Facebook post there. Message Board shout over yonder.
'Just finished 5,000 words today.' 'I'm writing like a madman.' 'My character just did something amazing.'
Now, writing is generally a solitary experience, so a cathartic release is expected every now and then. But turning that lonely process into an endless stream of updates about progress or lack thereof may be many things, but there's one thing it's not.
Writing.
I did a POST some time ago on some rough averages of page counts per day, and what they equate to over a year's time in terms of actual finished material. Writing is writing. It's not talking about writing. And I sense that some people who want to be writers spend more time telling the world about writing than actually turning out pages.
When I'm on Twitter or Facebook, I usually am spewing mindless chatter about bacon (forgive me, oh king of swine-based products) or just socializing. Or I'll post a link to my site, or some other thing I found interesting. When I'm quiet in the virtual world, probably 50% of that time I'm banging the keys.
Talking about doing is a trap. Talkers talk. Doers do. To be the desired noun, you have to execute the correct verb.
Writers write.
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Twitter has been an invaluable networking resource. I have met so many wonderful people (writers, authors, etc) that I wouldn't have met otherwise. I agree, Ryne. It is cathartic to put out a post on one's progress here and there -- or, to share one's thoughts about the writing process with other writers.
The one thing that always gets me are the frequent posts about numbers. Number of words written; number of followers reached.
If I spend an entire day writing a paragraph that kicks ass, I'm thrilled. I am equally thrilled if I write ten pages of dialog that do the same. But the number of words that I write in and of itself means nothing if they're not any good. The number of followers I have on Twitter (or anywhere else) means nothing if people don't know who I am or pay any attention to me.
There's a time and a place for everything and knowing how to balance it all is primo. But absolutely: writer's write.
Great post -- as always.
However... I'm not exactly sure this is a new problem. Part of the stereotype of the starving artist is someone who is in a deep decline laying on a sofa somewhere wallowing about how no one understands their art.
No everyone has a sofa these days sufficient enough to do the job. So perhaps that's why the the medium has changed?