verbing > nouning

it's in the doing that makes you something/ structure + formlessness

The fact that people can write something.. an essay.. a novel.. a short story.. a poem.. does “having written” make them a writer? What makes someone a writer? Are there certain rules they have to abide by, other than the rules of the language itself? At what moment do you really become a writer?

I’ll pose the same question about music. Someone plays the guitar. They write a song. A simple song, let’s say, Wild Thing by the Troggs. There’s three chords in that song. They compose it, jam on it for a while (maybe) record it. Boom, you gotta song (and in the case of Wild Thing, a good song).

Question-soup comes to a boil:

Does the writing of that song make them musicians? When does someone become a musician? What are the requirements? Do they have to know “the rules”? What rules? All of the rules? Enough of the rules? What about if they know the pentatonic but not the aeolian scales, are they just a partial musician? What if they can play in scales and modes but don’t know the name of the notes? Is that guy with the guitar just a guitar player or is he a musician? Who says?

If you boat a lot, you're known as a boating enthusiast. I like to boat, but I just don't want to ever be referred to as a 'boating enthusiast'. I hope they call me 'a guy who likes to boat'. - Mitch Hedberg

Maybe the most important question all of this is: What do you think?

There’s one side that leans on rules and structure, the “think” of it, calculations and requisite fundamental knowledge, iambic pentameter, the metric system, proper placement, accurate measurement, organization, clear boundaries and adherence to classic and accepted definition. These build solid platforms in which to plunge ourselves into the depths of some foreign and exciting unknown waters.

And there’s another side that deals with the “feel” of it, the conjuring of emotion, at times fluid and often messy, broad-stroking and gap-filling, the mixture of color and sound, combining the how and why, building circles out of squares and vice versa, stream-of-consciousness, the irregular and the odd. No clear definition or ruling reason, but it strikes right smack in center mass: the heart and the soul.

Photo by elvira Butler on Unsplash

Maybe there is no definitive answer. In creative acts there doesn’t have to be. Plenty of people perform their act of creation in an alchemy of sorts, using both the structured and the non-structured to express themselves or to solve a problem. Rigidity has its benefits, and so does flexibility. Depending on the situation at hand you can harness the power of both of these to benefit you in whatever task you are trying to accomplish.

The most important aspect is just the doing of it. The result will eventually be produced. Then you move back into the doing. Concentration on the verb, not the noun. The creating in this sense is more important. Why does it matter that someone else calls you a writer, musician, entrepreneur, artist, painter, chef?

Answer that rhetorical questioning of “what are you” with action and leave the classification and labeling to others. Be so occupied in your shit that you don’t have time for this type of tail-chasing.

¹

Much love,

Tyler

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1. Hemmingway, in his practical and simple way, is reported having said “Write drunk, edit sober”. I probably could’ve written this quote at the beginning of this post and be done with it. There’s wisdom in brevity. Power and impact. Strong word choice. Full of bite-sized nutritious vernacular, with immediate understanding. The point is driven home sans intense examination.