"I will pry his bony fingers free."

[greygirlbeast]

I can imagine nothing more wicked than the oft repeated insistence (from readers, publishers, editors, etc.) that an author must always love her or his work, if the work is to have value, during its creation or afterwards.

Comments

[ulffriend.livejournal.com]

That seems like an assertion that is false on its face to me. I've read/heard too many creative types saying that they disliked/were disappointed with/actively loathed works of their own, for a variety of reasons.

I'm nothing like a real author, but I do a fair bit of professional and academic writing, and I can't think of anything that I've ever gone back to and not found something that I would've changed.

[opalblack.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[trvolk.livejournal.com]

No, absolutely no way that writers must love their work. Be passionate about creating it, but even that's a big maybe, mainly because no one shares the same definition of the word.

[coffeeem.livejournal.com]

Damn, that's just silly.

(To anyone who has kids: tell me there aren't moments, or days, or even weeks, when you think your spawn are inexplicably horrible and the worst idea you ever had. Writers have times like that with the brain-spawn. And almost the only thing that will get a writer through those periods of profound loathing is that initial conviction that got her/him into trouble in the first place: "If I can make this work, it'll be so cool.")

[lois2037.livejournal.com]

Amen to that! This applies to all the arts, I believe.

[mizliz13.livejournal.com]

It applies to everything. And strikes me as absurd.