Timely And Relevant (To Me, At Least)

[elfs]

The Guardian asks writers: Is writing fun?

Al Kennedy

I wouldn't be the first writer to point out that doing something so deeply personal does become less jolly when you have to keep on at it, day after cash-generating day. To use a not ridiculous analogy: Sex = nice thing. Sex For Cash = probably less fun, perhaps morally uncomfy and psychologically unwise.

Will Self

I gain nothing but pleasure from writing fiction; short stories are foreplay, novellas are heavy petting – but novels are the full monte. The immersion in parallel but believable worlds satisfies all my demands for vicarious experience, voyeurism and philosophic calithenics. I even enjoy the mechanics of writing, the dull timpani of the typewriter keys, the making of notes – many notes – and most seductive of all: the buying of stationery.

The comments of John Banville and Joyce Carol Oates are also worth reading.

Comments

[lovingboth]

There speaks someone who's never done sex work, except quite possibly as a client who now feels a bit guilty about it.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Having written, being finished with creating a universe and putting it down in print, that is fun.

Writing though, having to scrounge time from busy schedules and scribe between the screams of civilization's demands that you service her then and there... the mechanical writing itself is not as pleasant.

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

The buying of stationery is always seductive... especially from those little specialty shops that have the odd sizes, special materials, and fancy designs. Mmmmmm :}

[amythis.livejournal.com]

I love typing, on a computer much more than on a typewriter. But I love writing in general, and the fact that I have massive amounts of free time (compared to other writers) only adds to the fun.