The publishing process is light having daughters
In some evil, sadistic, misogynist culture.
The act of creation is a bloodless birth,
Bringing something new, uncontrolled, onto earth,
But the vicarious ambition and personal greed
In letting your creation be mutilated to succeed
and letting editors and publishers take your daughter
Is a reason I'll always be a writer, not an author.
I use the words "writer" and "author" differently in my everyday life, a fact that it might or might not be easy to infer from this poem. To my way of seeing it, a writer is someone who writes and thinks about writing, while an author is someone who writes things lots of people read, want to read, or would be interested in reading.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible to be either and not be the other.