In this age of absurdity where news is fake and power is marriage to social media, Paul Elie talks about the fundamental problem with writers. They lie. In a black and white world where news is not paid news, journalists can’t make things up. A journalist’s credibility is based on the facts that they recount. If they get carried away, they could disappear from their role, merge with the crowd or you could write a book anonymously.
Writers are supposedly pathological liars as they want to look good or they want to tell a good story. More about famous liars in the writing field here: Why Writers Lie (and Plagiarize and Fabricate and Stretch the Truth and…)
Another essay I read had to do with one of the most famous of writer’s faults.
Procrastination- the quality made famous by Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Procrastination is distraction at its best. Checking fb when you should be writing. Checking your email when you should be writing. What else do you do when you should be writing?
Megan Mcardle believes that the reason writers are procrastinators could be that they were probably straight A students in English anyway and now when they must respond to a challenge, they are knee deep in fear at getting it wrong as they only know what right feels like. If this situation sounds familiar and you are a victim of imposter syndrome, read Why Writers are the Worst Procrastinators.
